Tuesday 18 August 2015

Album Review; Dendera - Pillars Of Existence


Released Via Metalbox Recordings
Genre: Heavy Metal


Dendera’s debut ‘The Killing Floor’ was an enjoyable trek through heavy metal soil that felt modern but a little too familiar at times, but I can say with great pleasure that ‘Pillars Of Creation’ comes across as a much more mature beast. Influences of Judas Priest, Megadeth and Dream Theater all shine through the dust on this record, but it’s the few hints of progressive metal that give this record the more up-to-date feel that the aforementioned debut lacked slightly. ‘Claim Our Throne’ starts slowly before bursting into a solid opening track, then ‘Bloodlust’ takes things to the new level. This is a track destined to impress live audiences on the band’s upcoming slot supporting Anvil. ‘In High Tide’ bears the British mark of Judas Priest with its melodic majesty, though Ashley Edison’s vocals are more reminiscent of Bruce Dickinson. This is perhaps the biggest triumph of Dendera; they’re easily the most impressive pure heavy metal band to come out of the UK in recent memory. Other bands would do well to take note that while there may be no extreme vocal styles on show here, this sounds very fresh. This is simply due to the fact that in the metal scene as it stands today, this does sound fresh. ‘Disillusioned’ shows there is more darkness in this classic metal style than some modern genres, whilst ‘Unholy’ is an anthem in lyrics, riffs and singalong power. Dendera have more to them than meets the eye and have proven that we should make no assumptions of throwbacks when we see the tag ‘heavy metal’ in 2015.

Rating: 9/10

Links: http://metalboxrecordings.com/
           http://www.dendera.co.uk/
           https://www.facebook.com/DenderaUK

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