Shrines of Chaos

Iapethos is a band from Finland and they were formed in 2010 by their only member, Iapethos. Two years after the creation of the band, he releases his first self-financed demo “Shrines of Chaos (2012)” which contains six compositions and an intro of twenty six minutes duration. In this demo we will come across chaotic Black Metal influenced by the Scandinavian scene with the addition of some industrial touches.

The riffs are melodic and dark, other times fast and other times rhythmic, although we’ll find a lot of very interesting ideas, there are also some riffs which ruin the atmosphere (for example the rhythmic riff in “Shrines of Chaos Constructed of Hate”). However most of the riffs are quite good and deliver the listener straight into the dark atmosphere of Iapethos. The sound of the guitar is clean and heavy, while in every track the guitars are played very well with power and feeling. The bass adds depth to the compositions, while with its heavy sound and its fast lines, adds darkness and chaos to the tracks. The industrial element that I mentioned before, I personally spotted it just in the drum machine’s programming. The sound of the drums clearly is electronic, fast but without depth at all, it is repetitive and in some parts annoying. I also think that the compositions are not industrial, so the industrial way of programming the drum machine doesn’t match. The vocals mainly are harsh Black Metal vocals with a lot of changes concerning the expression depending on the part, something that makes the total result even more interesting

The production is clean and a little bassy, giving as a result a very nice, heavy and massive sound which highlights the compositions. The mix is good, having the guitars in the frontline. What I didn’t like is that the drum machine is much louder than I would like it to be. The lyrics are written in English and they narrate fantasy stories with mythical worlds and with dark mythical creatures, they make the journey more interesting and more complete.

Generally the first demo of Iapethos is a quite good work which leaves a good impression. Although he has tried much to give an industrial identity to the compositions with the drum machine, the music is pure, frozen Black Metal and I think that it would be better if he faced it like that. If he corrects the drum machine and face his music as it is, his future releases will be very good. All those of you who don’t get bothered by the bad drum machine, it worth to get to know this band.