Wrath Of Logarius - Crown Of Mortis

Well known label Season of Mist has apparently acquired another rather ‘mystical Black Metal band’ from San Francisco who enjoys the style of anonymity with name and also looks. Headed by 4 half skull faced members, Wrath Of Logarius takes Tolkien styled Metal and breaks away from the usual Summoning expectations and presents a well balanced blend of Blackened Death Metal on their full length debut entitled “Crown Of Mortis.” These guys have been around only a few years under a different name, but are quick to impress with their rather ‘formless’ style as it moves like an ocean constantly crashing listeners wave after wave, track after track, with its rather enjoyable sound. It isn’t quite the genre breaker that some might have expected, but it does its best not to be pigeonholed too much by drawing on a lot of influences from some of the bigger names out there.

Blending a mix of the blackened side of Belphegor with some Death Metal elements without chunky groove along with mid era Dark Funeral and the wintery harshness of Grima but none of the Folk elements, Wrath Of Logarius knows how to draw its audience. After a foreboding horror tinged intro that sounds right out of a Lovecraft movie, ‘Keeper of the Spectral Legion’ sets the tone for the Black and Death metal side of things. Lord Marco on drums who has a very extensive list of other projects to solidify his reputation thunders on the kit in blistering fashion sounding like Marduk a bit but never boring or out of touch with the rest of the music, though he also sounds like he wants to win the sound race as much as possible as sometimes his face is almost Cryptopsy frantic. Alongside the eerie yet melodic tremolo riffs from Vastator and Urath the song is a force to be reckoned with, especially with the mix of audible growls and snarls from Noctifer which are some of the more ‘pleasant’ Black Metal voices heard in years. Sometimes they tend to get too shrieky or pained, but not since Shagrath of Dimmu Borgir has a voice been so powerful and yet so easy to listen to for those new to the genre without sounding too auto-tuned. Sometimes there’s a mechanized overtone to it at parts, but it still sounds impressive and semi-human enough. While the snarls are used more than the growls, when they come in here and there they add that Belphegor depth.

It should be noted that while Wrath Of Logarius has a strong, well produced sound, the songwriting structure is a bit the same. Chugging riffs, melodic tremolos, then back to chugging riffs, all led by a charge of furious vocal delivery and drumming that is either rhythmic militaristic smacks or machine gun fire with an endless clip such as on ‘Erosion’ or ‘ Lurker’s Tomb’ pave the way to demolish all in its path, but after the rather quiet atmospheric introduction, fans will probably be expecting a bit more atmosphere injected in in the form of slower, more haunting parts. On most of “Crown Of Mortis” though there isn’t much room for that. ‘Crypt’ has some excellent haunting passages but aside from the more chugging parts when the growls are present before the guitar solos or the building tension of ‘Long Dead the King’ this album is going to be a bit of a scorcher, much like Legion headed Marduk albums before the change of vocalist. Still, despite that this album doesn’t have everything it does keep a varying pace and tone between the Black and Death Metal sides which is rare for a band these days; sometimes they lean too much to one side and end up sounding more like Behemoth than Dark Funeral but Wrath Of Logarius walk that line well. It isn’t until the closing ‘Dread’ where things really take a bit of a dramatic turn for the band as they slow down a bit but not by much for more of a mid paced than fast approach but it is the more percussive drumming and vocal delivery together that really show the band’s darker side when they aren’t firing on all cylinders like it is the Battle of Gondor all over again.

“Crown Of Mortis” is a mixed bag of successes and misses. They charge in weapons clashing and make a whole lot of noise to prove their point, but in their ferocity there is also a little bit of boredom as the shifts in tones are predictable by ‘Of the Void.’ The final track finally shows that they don’t have to be full fury all day, but it comes a little too late as lots of fans will probably have already decided if they don’t like the Dark Funeral patterned style by ‘Long Dead the King.’ Still, those who are new to Wrath Of Logarius would do well to check out the mystery behind the sound and get loaded up with some well produced ealy 2000s styled Black Metal. It may not have that winter crisp like Immortal delivers or the fall Folk touches of Agalloch or the dramatic dungeon synth power of Mortiis, but this U.S.A. based band is a strong contender to be one of the ‘go to’ bands for Black Metal newbies with a bright future. Cosmic tinged with some novel mythological touches they will floor listeners nonetheless and give something that both Black and Death Metal fans can appreciate overall.

3.5 / 5 STARS