Korpius - Shades of Black
Maple Metal Records
Modern Blackened Death Metal
9 songs (38:56)
Release year: 2011
Reviewed by Crash
Surprise of the month

Korpius are a good band. They play the right notes and the right riffs in the right spots just about all the time. Korpius hail from Canada and play metal that borrows from just about everything popular now. If you like tech death, it’s got it. If you like the builds and crescendos from Colors then this may tickle your balls. If you are all about the chunky upfront brutal death metal guitars then they provide. This unfortunately does not come as a good thing.

Rather than hearing new sounds I feel like I am listening to the audible equivalent of someone showing you their vacation photos. It’s never as good as the real thing. Shades of Black often delivers, but the band’s dependence on their peers’ influence leaves it sounding like a dozen dime a dozens.

Does this make for an unenjoyabal record? Not at all. There are many moments on this disc that will catch your attention, whether it be a particularly good solo or the guttural vocals that hang over every track.

Stigmatized for example is one of the less exciting songs on the album until a solid minute of fantastic tapped harmonies raped my head. The production is deep and punchy, but with an overall plastic feeling. Out of all of the bands that I could easily make comparisons to it seems like Opeth meets the tween little brother of Behemoth and Deicide. He is just as loud as angry, but screams out at the same things every else does.

While this band is not nearly as technical as say Decrepit Birth, this takes its time more and provides at least an adequate attempt at making the songs sound different from eachother. I could easily recommend this to some of my friends who consider bands like Born of Osiris to be a real threat to metal and tell you about how Trivium’s The Crusade was an underappreciated record. This’ll suit them just fine. It’s more blunt and to the point than death core or any of its derivatives. What it lacks is the punch, the aggression, and the purpose of good contemporary death metal. This band draws heavily from their inspirations; it is just a shame that most of those bands are more than five years old. But it will serve its purpose and those looking for this style can find something that is inoffensive and enthusiastic.

You get a C+ Korpius

Scratch that... B-... just because I like ya.

Killing Songs :
The solos from Stigmatized, At the Point of Death, Six Feet Deep
Crash quoted 80 / 100
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