Kosmogonia – Enthrone the Gods

Kosmogonia

‘Enthrone the Gods’

Cronus Productions

Folk/Melodic Death Metal

FFO: Epica, Nightwish, Dalriada, Isatha, Niburta, Tarja

The last few years have been one of planning and consolidation for Kosmogonia, chiselling and honing their style from melodic thrash metal into the sound we know today of melodic death metal with folk influences. This has culminated in the Greek band delivering ‘Enthrone the Gods’, their hotly anticipated debut album.

                For ‘Enthrone the Gods’, Kosmogonia have gone all out and are not afraid to take any prisoners, the band have laid their cards out upon the table with a welcoming and warm production that just begs for it to be listened to. Behind this decent production is some strong melodic death metal, powered to the forefront through some guttural growls courtesy of Kostas Magalios; this is traded off with some excellent folk interludes where the flute takes centre stage. However, the main issue with ‘Enthrone the Gods’ are the vocals of Maya Kampaki; yes, they’re soaring, they’re operatic and at times Tarja would be proud, but there is an element of square peg/round hole, particularly during the first few tracks where Kampaki is so high that it feels forced and at times she may still be singing but only dogs can hear her. Yet, by the middle of this album, the vocals have very much settled down and Kosmogonia deliver some excellent tracks such as ‘Raven’s Call’, ‘Melody of Persephone’ and the wonderful ‘Daughter of Zeus’.

                At times, ‘Enthrone the Gods’ may have the over-arching feeling of the album Epica discarded, but once it hits stride, Kosmogonia really have delivered an interesting and enjoyable album that provides a great foundation for the band to build upon.

Adam McCann