Hopelessness

Pantheon is a new Israeli band, based in Jerusalem of Israel and they consist of three members. Their first full length album called “Hopelessness”, contains nine compositions, three instrumental and six Black/Death ones, of overall duration of about thirty minutes and it was released in the 7^th of October of 2019 by More Hate Productions. Although they are a quite new band, as they are formed in 2018, judging by their age, i expect to come across some mature musicians that they know what they want to create and offer it with all of their passion and heart.

By the opening instrumental track you can understand that there is some interesting music and you should expect nothing less for the rest of the album. The first track, “Through the Dark Pass to Eternity”, is clarifying the music orientation as also the abilities and the quality of the band. They are playing a mixture of Black and Death Metal with a strong touch of melody. The riffing is melodic but at the same time dark and violent, expressing violence, hatred, darkness and sometimes despair, depending on the track. Another very characteristic element of the band’s music is the catchy structure which means that the tracks have a clear pattern consisted of the verse building up to the bridge, leading to the melodic and catchy chorus. Despite being obvious and quite basic, i can not complain about this kind of structure, as the songs last as long as they should, so that they won’t become boring or repetitive but being entertaining through their entire duration.

The musicians are very good, especially Tyrant who handles one of the two guitars, the bass but also the drums. Both guitarists are very good and their performance is passionate and flawless, presenting all the bands ideas in the best way possible. The bass is audible, giving a very nice, warm feeling and depth to the compositions, while there are moments that its riffs become the leading ones in the track. Also the output of the drums is a performance of high level as they are really energetic, passionate, very powerful but also steady and professional. The vocals are deep Death Metal vocals, that many times were supported by second Black Metal ones coming out as a legion of demons, something that i don’t like generally and in here too. In the parts that the vocals are not supported by second ones are expressive and passionate. In the “Enthroning of the Mighty One” track, they are trying to add some clean vocals to the brutal ones and the result is really interesting, something i would like to listen more often. The production is bassy and warm with the depth needed by the compositions while the mixture is balanced, giving the space that each instrument needs in order to grow and show its quality. The lyrics are written in English and they are dark occult stories of ancient spirits and sentiments.

You may be wandering, as i did, if this album is sloppy and rough, firstly due to the short period between the creation of the band, the composition part and lyrics writing and the period of recording the album, and secondly because of its short duration. Although, the period between the aforementioned phases may seam too short to produce a nice album, i can assure you that after you listen to “Hopelessness”, you will change your mind. The tracks i liked most are “By the Flame of Cold“, “Hopelessness” and “Enthroning of the Mighty One”. So, i suggest you give this album a chance and you won’t be disappointed.