Belgian band Storm Upon The Masses has already an EP under its belt, and will release its first full-length, entitled The Ones Who Came Back, on 23rd of March this year.
The Ones Who Came Back kicks off with Cyclonic Entity. This one has a very short narrative at the beginning, before brutal beats and growls are unleashed upon the listener. The band itself described it best as a brutal death-metal storm. The total destruction-feeling is also conveyed via the artwork of this album, where dragons set a whole town ablaze, leaving the soldiers unable to defend themselves. The entire album is a salute towards the old times of death metal. The guys are great musicians and especially singer Brecht’s vicious growls add a whole layer of brutality to the whole thing. So, while one can argue that Storm Upon The Masses found “their” sound, the total of 11 songs are also very much alike, with very little to distinguish between them. So, while the album in general is well done and also nice to listen to, no particular song sticks with you when you switch it off after the 38 minutes playtime (at least not with me).
In conclusion: The Ones Who Came Back is a very solid debut album, with great productions and the guys being very good musicians. Some criticism was stated above, but that’s just my personal taste colliding here, so I would recommend this album to anyone who’s a fan of old school or brutal death metal! 8.5/10.
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