Kryptoportikus: Dark Rainbow

Hailing from Bavaria, Chris Techritz and Franz Herde have formed Kryptoportikus and released their debut album Dark Rainbow. They are joined by several guest musicians, and describe the album as “old-school retro trash metal, paired with themes about Greek mythology.� The guitars and drums definitely evoke thrash or speed metal at times, but the vocals (provided by Herde, minus one spoken-word track, “Medusa’s Speech,� featuring Trina Deuhart) generally don’t. They’re usually more on the power metal side. There is some doom here and there, too, such as on the title track and “Ruins of Troy,� with a few slightly progressive flourishes similar to those on the early Mercyful Fate and King Diamond records. In short, it’s heavy metal that defies genre.

Is it any good? Yep. I found the production a bit slick at times, especially on the thrashier songs, but there is a lot to like here. Some might complain that the band is trying to do too many things on a single album, and that wouldn’t be an unreasonable criticism, but for me it’s a selling point. I never really got bored with it, and that’s more than I can say about a lot of albums.

Track Listing
1. Stormy Seas (1:51)
2. Imperial Machine (3:17)
3. Dark Rainbow (4:17)
4. The Wanderings of Ulysses (6:29)
5. Argonautica Part I (1:29)
6. Ruins of Troy (5:30)
7. Medusa’s Speech (1:13)
8. The Curse of Medusa (4:12)
9. Argonautica Part II (3:43)
10. The Oracle (5:25)
11. Sparta and Athens (4:22)
12. Argonautica Part III (1:38)

Added: August 25th 2025
Reviewer: Aaron Steelman
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 94
Language: english

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