Callous Kagathos is the second release from Poland's Naumachia, originally recorded in 2005 but just now seeing its official worldwide release thanks to Metal Mind Productions. If you like thrashy, symphonic black metal, you've come to the right place, as Naumachia deliver heavy, speedy extreme metal that's fairly solid all around, if not a bit on the unoriginal side. Thirteen tracks in total on this reissue, one of which is the bonus cut "Deadly Threshold", and they range from complex, futuristic metal ("Speculus Mundi"), to raging black metal ("Centurion" and "Shanguine Harvest") and even a little progressive metal (the excellent instrumental "Fuga"). Guitars are crisp, there's plenty of keyboards, and the drums are powerful and nimble, plus the band mixes in a variety of different vocal styles (black metal growls, clean passages, and some deep gothic vocals), not all of which work, but it does mix things up a bit. When it all works, as it does to great effect on "Harvesterror", the band impresses on all levels. The main problem here, is that too many of the rhythms follow a similar pattern, so even though the band really tries to put together some complex and adventurous arrangements, all too often they go back to the same "chugga chugga chugga chugga" and it completely undermines what they are attempting to do. Ultimately it gives many of these songs a too similar feel, and that's a shame as there are some really exciting passages here, some dramatic keyboard orchestrations, and some intricate guitar work, but in the end too much of Callous Kagathos meanders and comes across as very repetitive. Still, it's worth a listen, and I can see Naumachia, with some fine tuning, making a name for themselves on the Polish extreme metal scene.
Track Listing
1. Modern Victimology
2. Centurion
3. Speculus Mundi
4. Shanguine Harvest
5. Mnimum Fatal Dose
6. Fuga - Instrumental
7. Satyriatus
8. Tenebroso
9. Morsus Ora
10. Sublatio
11. Ancient Breed
12. Harvesterror
13. Deadly Threshold [Bonus Track]
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