Kerberos - Apostle to the Malevolent
- Saurabh
- Apr 2
- 3 min read
Symphonic metal; a terms that invokes very mixed responses whenever I hear it. On one hand I love the idea of over the top orchestral elements with classically trained female vocals telling a grand story of kings, treasures, love and deceit, all mixed in with a healthy dose of hard hitting metal. On the other hand it can feel disjointed and formulaic - restricted by the same elements that elevate it.
So when I heard that the Swiss symphonic & progressive death metal band, Kerberos released their second full length album earlier this year I was genuinely interested to give it a listen. Kerberos, hailing from land of the Alps and similarly styled chocolate bar are a band whose sound is a mix of ornate orchestral instrumental music that lays the ground work, choir-ish clean vocals with a solid helping of death metal vocals and finished with heavy riff work and double bass drumming.
The end result of this musical menagerie is a very unique sound that swings between symphonic metal to its heavier cousin - proggy-death metal. Their style evokes an imagery of old time with grand halls, mead, golden goblets and knights in armour with a fair bit of darkness thrown in for good measure.
The 29 minute album opens with an instrumental track that's entirely composed on an Organ. Nothing wrong with that, though a bit unusual. It then dives into a song that shows off the band's diverse musical abilities and leanings mixing in organ work, thick guitar riffs and solid percussion work, there is a lot going on here but for the most part the band makes it work. When you come to the vocals though it’s a different story, while the female vocals are your standard, run of the mill classical vocals, the male vocals shift gears between deep growls and dramatic tenor like vocals. It's the latter that I found to be more of a hindrance to really enjoying the album.
Though the alum is only 29 minutes long, song lengths vary wildly with the shortest track being just over 1.5 mins and the longest under 10 mins mark. I can see the thought behind the longer songs, the desire to tell a full, grand story in the song "Apostle to the Malevolent". There definitely is a case for longer songs in metal and I can see the lure for wanting to do the same in this genre. Here though we run into the age old problem where the multitude of instruments are all vying for your attention at the same time - there are times this works and there are times it all falls apart.
The heavy organ music that is ever present in the album is definitely a point of contention. For lovers of this musical style this is an absolutely brilliant idea and elevates the sound and experience of the album but for me, I found it hard to focus on the other elements whenever the organ was playing. The sound of an organ being so rich, it overpowers your senses.
While I've listed to a decent bit of symphonic metal and do like songs by bands like Xandria, Epica and Nightwish, its not my go to sub genre. But nevertheless I am always keen to give new songs and albus a listen. To wrap it up, Apostle to the Malevolent is a good album which could have been great, there are definitely moments where the band elevates the sonic experience but there are deep gullies here too which they fall into. I wonder what the band feels about the songs and how, if at all, they plan to tweak some of the elements.
In the end, I'd say there definitely is an audience this album will appeal to with its sense of opulence, drama and intrigue. It may not be for everyone, but we don't live in the world of universal truths anymore, if it works for you, happy head banging, if not, then move on, there's enough metal out there for everyone.
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