NABERUS – The Lost Reveries
- Posted on 28-11-2016
Riding that fine line between modern aggressive groove metal and melodic death metal, Australia’s Naberus sign to Eclipse Records and release their second full-length "The Lost Reveries". What this means to the listener is you will feel like you are taking in a current version of In Flames one moment for the choruses, and then feel like you are in Lamb of God/ Machine Head land the next. James Ash has the venomous roar/ alternative clean singing switch ups down pat – while his bandmates handle the powerful riffing and rhythmic backbone in jackhammer, relentless fashion.
"Torch the Sky" begins with a repetitive lead swirling against this low-toned main riff, the momentum building as the double bass and intense word spew carries the crux of aggression. A bit of that Korn-stomp factors into the bass/drum maneuvers for "Voices", while the acoustic guitars that weave into "Darkest Day" tease the listener into thinking this will be a modern rock track – only to switch over to more of a straightforward melodic death effort (although the chorus is very radio-friendly). At 14 tracks and close to one hour of music, there are a couple of times where I felt that the band could have been better off keeping material aside for the follow up release, as there are a lot of ideas to digest. The 3:17 instrumental "Dirge for Sanity" fits that mold for an acceptable song but something that doesn’t necessarily feel mandatory for the flow of this record.
Australia has a plethora of metal exports making huge strides in worldwide awareness and acceptance – Naberus could be another that gains a decent amount of attention because of the multi-genre bending tendencies. If nothing else, the teenagers and twenty-somethings will have another record to rage and get frustrations out to.