Ex Deo, side-project of Kataklysm frontman Maurizio Iacono, don’t release a huge amount but I’ve loved everything they’ve unleashed upon us. Contentious opinion, I prefer them to Kataklysm themselves, though the larger band is still pretty damn good. The four-track EP Year of the Four Emperors is a short collection of songs, but every bit as impressive as what has come before, and it’s small because it tells its story… and then it’s done.
As with previous albums there is a theme, and in this case it’s a single year in Rome’s history. It’s fairly obvious what happened in AD69 based on the title, and each of the songs takes us through the brief reign of each of the emperors who sat on the throne of Rome over that short time. This 12-month period featured the first civil war that Rome had seen in almost a century, since the death of Marcus Antonius, hence the rise and fall of four individuals throughout.
As with a Sabaton collection, the history is well-researched, obviously a passion of the creators, and presented well. It also had me looking up the original history to find out more about it!
Musically, existing fans of Ex Deo know what to expect. Death metal vocals over a fairly traditional metal base, and the addition of atmospheric choral pieces, orchestral strikes and so on. Spoken word is used here and there, and I suspect the words are lifted directly from historical texts.
Ex Deo always manage to lift heavy metal up a notch, and they’ve succeeded once again with this EP release.
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Pre-order/pre-save Year Of The Four Emperors – it’s out on January 10th
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