Martyrion – Our Dystopia

[nyrating]

26th August 2016 Markus Falkenberg Album Reviews 0

Death Metal meets Fallout. Sounds simple, right? And yes, their idea to place their music in an obviously fictive post-apocalyptic future sounds like a gimmick, but why not? It is not as if they were the first to follows a certain theme in their lyrics and stage show. And maybe their post-apocalyptic theme is also what helps Martyrion to get into the spirit for writing songs in a way that distinguishes the band from other Melodic Death Metal bands.

But what is it that differentiates Martyrion from other bands? For me it is mostly their ability to mix melody with dissonant elements in a way that makes sense. Take the song “I In The End”, for instance. Powerful and fast passages that radiate vitality and strength and then slower passages that reek of doom and despair. But this is just one of many roller-coaster rides on the album. The next song Genozenith is not any different there. Once again Martyrion creates the mental image of vital apocalyptic warriors who do their best to keep up their spirit in a nuclear wasteland.

Death waits around every corner, but surrender is not an option. An occasional musical experiment is an option though as one can hear on “From Reality Into Fear”. Although, are short passages marked by clean vocals really such a surprise for a Death Metal band? Not really, but then: So what? Why not play with a standard gimmick here and there? Martyrion loves to play anyway. They play with genre boarders, they play with their post-apocalyptic theme, their bassist plays with a 10-string bass, they play with make-up on stage and all in all they likely have more of a fun time than the doomy atmosphere of their songs would suggest. I would still prefer to never live in the world they sing about, but taking an occasional ride with Martyrion into their world? Yes please! 8 devils!