Poland's normally known as a hotbed of death metal acts, but Devilish Impressions are out to change al that with their first official release Plurima Mortis Imago. These symphonic black metalers instantly draw comparisons to Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, and Cradle of Filth, as their music contains plenty of sweeping keyboard orchestrations, lurid lyrical content, and trademark black metal screeches. However, if they have anything in common with other Polish bands like Behemoth or Decapitated, it's their use of technical guitar riffs and song structures. So call their music sort of a hybrid of symphonic black metal with technical death metal. Made up of members of Asgaard and Luna Ad Noctum, you can see that their pedigree in extreme metal is already solidified.
Overall, this is some fairly brutal & technical stuff, yet the music is given a nice symphonic and progressive touch due to the keyboards from Turquoissa, who creates huge beds of orchestral soundscapes on each song. Guitars are handled by Quazarre (who also sings) and Starash, and these two lay down some intricate and complex riffery on songs like "Funeral of God", "Rebellion of Will Manifesto", and "Dracula's Mechanized Universe", just three hot tracks among many. Joining this trio here are drummer Dragor and bassist Adrian Nefarious, but their contributions are not as noticeable as they are somewhat buried in the mix. Producer Arek Malczewski, who has also worked with Behemoth, Vesania, Asgaard, and Lost Soul, could have balanced the instruments a little better, as there is a slight muddy quality to this CD, but it doesn't distract much from the excellent songs and solid performances. Turquoissa shows to be a fine keyboard player, as she creates some wonderful melodies and soundscapes on the two intrumentals "Lunarium" and "Alpha & Omega Spaces". At times the music is manic and completely brutal ("Crowned to be Crucified"), pounding with classic metal riffs ("Smell of Death"), and other times a complete throwback to vintage mid-90's black metal like on "SataniChaoSymphony", a song that also throws in some wild death metal grunts for good measure.
Any way you slice it, this is some killer symphonic extreme metal from a band who should garner a lot of attention with Plurima Mortis Imago. Fans of Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Naglfar, Cradle of Filth, and Borknagar should eat this up.
Track Listing
- Lunarium
- Rebellion of Will Manifesto
- Visions of Kingdom to Come
- Dracula's Mechanized Universe
- Funeral of God
- Alpha & Omega Spaces
- Crowned to Be Crucified
- Smell of Death
- SataniChaoSymphony
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