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Ade: Spartacus
04/06/13 || Ironpants
This… is… SPARTA!!
Once in a while you just fire of a big grin when hearing something new. That new trend with bands releasing lyric videos as teasers, or a song on SoundCloud or some other similar act of kindness, can have you trembling with anticipation. “Ade” managed to do that to my nowadays rather slow brain. The song “Betrayer from Thrace” was played through my headphones in front of my trusty laptop and I went from a rather obese-tired-old-man stance to a strapping-young-lad posture in a second… well maybe five seconds, but I’m getting really old. This was what I was waiting for and what I needed, after listening to a lot of stinking crap lately, it’s not fun and games everyday here at GD, we have to plough through a lot of shit here you know? But fear not, we’ll continue to take care of that, as long as we get some good stuff once in a while.
“Ade” hail from Italy, a country responsible for releasing… how shall I put it… not that much that is like musical Viagra to my soggy old lump of protein upstairs. Besides “Fleshgod Apocalypse” I can’t recall another band (that I like) right now. But hey, maybe we are entering a new era here? These fellows play extreme death metal that is in the same category as “Nile”, and I like that kind of metal very much, that’s my safety switch for not going postal and I prefer to listen to this kind of music when I have to calm down, and trust me, that is more often than you might think.
How do these boys stand out in the competition then? Let’s go through the layers here. If you look at the choice of lyrical content, since the Egyptian theme was taken, they have looked closer to home, and what is more suitable than Roman history when you are from Rome yourself? We can’t blame them for that, I mean, I’ll take that everyday of the week and it’s more natural being Italian and honoring their past than sing about Viking prowess or Egyptian culture for that matter. So when they are marketed as “Ancient Roman Death Metal”, I can avoid the fact that it sounds a bit cheesy with such sub-genres.
The music, which is all that counts in the end, is brutal, fierce, fast and get me going at once with earlier mentioned track. After a short ancient sounding intro they fire away with spears flying and with their Roman helmets tightly strapped, they come at you as a Roman battle squad in wedge formation, breaking through your defense line at once, you hear right away that they mean business. And you better buckle up, ‘cause it will continue for some 40 minutes more.
“Ade” also add some extra spice with native instruments played here and there in the songs, and that is another added spice that makes the songs stand out a bit. Sometimes when the songs gets a bit too repetitive, the older instruments are cleverly inserted and it keeps your interest activated. A cool touch that I hope they will continue to develop further in their career, it gives them identity and that extra push to stand out amongst their competitors.
The main band themselves deliver a rather massive attack, with fast and extreme riffing and the drums are handled by the temporarly hi-jacked George Kollias (Nile), and that must be a drummers nightmare, taking over after Mr. Kollias. ”Hey, I heard you were looking for a drummer?” – “Yeah, here’s our CD, learn those tracks, and then call us for an audition”. That man is a beast, and he perfects the job with ease. I understand that they now have a new permanent drummer, so I guess that everything is under control for further battles on their crusade too conquering the world.
That is not really much more to say. This is a Roman battle-chariot pulled by monstrous battle-horses in relentless speed and if you are into this kind of extreme death metal, and want to stretch out your musical input between the releases of the other bands in this genre, you need to have this album. Don’t get me wrong, they are no 2nd class band, they are up to par with the rest of the scene, and I welcome this addition in my collection. And so should you!
- Information
- Released: 2013
- Label: Blast Head Records
- Website: Ade Facebook
- Band
- Flavio: vocals
- Messor: guitars
- Fabio: guitars
- Caligvla: bass
- Guests
- George Collias: drums
- Simone: oud, flute, lyra, darbouka, diambe
- Tracklist
- 01. Betrayer of Thrace
- 02. Sanguine pluit in arena
- 03. The endless runaway
- 04. Crixius flags of dishonor
- 05. Duelling the shadow of Spartacus
- 06. Mars’s unpredictable favour
- 07. Decimate the cowards
- 08. Six thousand crosses
- 09. Divinitus victor
- 10. …for everything to be the same
