Band's List Death Black Korpius Shades of Black

Korpius are a rather young band coming from Canada and they got themselves a deal with Maple Metal Records to release their debut. Musically speaking, it is rather hard to come up with labels with Korpius.

They do incorporate some elements of Death Metal and some of Black Metal, most audible through the double growl/shriek vocal attacks but the music is really melodic and while it may boast a few Death Metal riffs, we’re closer to the Goteborg Melodic Death Metal scene and sometimes it even goes further with technical escapades that wouldn't have ashamed early Helloween.

Production is obviously fantastic and you wouldn't expect otherwise anyway from such a record. Note that the band may be still young but in the five years it took them to release their debut, they achieved quite a loyal and local fanbase having played tons of gigs with the best names of the international scene. This experience and craftsmanship seemed to pay as there are virtually no flaws to be found on Shades of Black.

My only concern would maybe that they could seek some more “consistency”. As previously written, they take their sounds from either Goteborg legends like At The Gates or Dark Tranquility or even more Power Metal outfits but sometimes I wish they'd stick to one style and not combine everything they know in one single song. For instance Six Feet Deep starts as some real catchy tune to headbang to but then turns out into a maelstrom of technique whose only interest is for the lead guitar to show off taking away the initial powers of devastation previously shown.

Not much to complain about but this still shows that the Canadians have room for improvement. And while they’re a pretty good live band and have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to mastering their instruments or producing a good records, they should really focus on songwriting to make for an even more intense experience because at this stage, their lack of identity seems to pull them down. A bit, only a bit and fans of the more melodic stuff will most likely find their good share of enjoyment from Shades of Black.