(self-released)

a promising new English band arrives in the form of imperator, with a truckload of ideas and catchy riffs. it's inspired by the likes of morbid angel (well, they even told me this themselves!), but not in the same way as, say, throne of nails, cos these guys sound much more original, though not as professional and tight (yet!). they've definitely got their own sound, cos I'm having trouble describing it! I guess it is more song-based than all-out brutality, with a strong metal feel, and it's easy to get into. the guitar playing is highly commendable, with quite a lot of experimenting going on, turning up some good sounds, not to mention some skilful soloing! drumming could be better, it's not so tight, but the tight rhythm guitars make up for this. vocals are a deep, bold death-bellow, belting out some cool lyrics which relate legends of ancient kingdoms, battles, and so on. I think the lyrics and singing style are perfect for the epic songs contained within. I find it easy to envision the stuff in the lyrics as I listen to the music, which I have to say is unusual cos I experience this with very few records! production is decent for a demo, apart from the odd bit which sounds out of place with the rest, and there's 4 songs in 31 minutes, which I think is actually longer than the lividity "full-length" I traded for it! don't get this if you are only looking for pulverizing brutality and non-stop blastbeats, but for some innovative death metal with a powerful feeling this is worth getting. latest news is that they've changed their name to mithras and had a bit of a line-up change! check out the review elsewhere! all hail mithras!