An epitaphion revealed and rallied as banner over-tomb intending to exhort the potential excellence of the polis upon surviving legion Minneapolis, Minnesota-based death metal quartet House of Atreus turns to shield bashing furor in their latest monument, an appeal to the petty-minded and woefully socially engineered greater good. Under duress of mutant-kind and endlessly mutating plague ‘Orations‘ is a steeling ride, torsion set to test the dormant endurance of those sustained on drip-fed mediocrity in the interim by way of a half-hour of finest angled melodious death-darkened heavy metal craftsmanship. Within an irrational, arrogantly stated fusion of axe-swinging tuneful acts and brutally achieved extremes these fellowes successfully defend their station as a last bastion of riff and relentless attitude within the union.

House of Atreus formed circa 2011 and arrived upon a high standard within a manner of just a couple years. Primarily inspired by the traditional heavy metal infused extreme metal style of bands like Varathron, Rotting Christ, The Chasm and Arghoslent these folks essentially play an ‘epic’ form of heavy metal with speed/thrash metal infused voicing at the intensity of extreme melodic blackened death metal. In this sense a fan of earlier Ares Kingdom and records like ‘Incorrigible Bigotry‘ will immediately identify the nuanced yet militant standard applied to all of the band’s works which’ve erred toward quality over quantity. I have been an outspoken fan of House of Atreus since their Dark Descent released debut full-length (‘The Spear and the Ichor that Follows‘, 2015) a record which I’d placed at #20 on my Best of 2015 without yet being assured they’d follow it up with any sort of mastery. Their follow-up LP (‘From the Madness of Ixion‘, 2018) set a new standard per my own taste, it was one for the ages and no doubt one of the best melodic death record released in recent memory which’d reviewed favorably and set at the worthy position of #4 on my 50 Best Albums of 2018. If you’ve not taken to close inspection of their discography thus far you are missing out on some of the best riffs the United States’ve had to offer in the last decade.

Set six years beyond their most recent triumphal moment it wouldn’t be out of line to figure that the five original songs that comprise ‘Orations‘ aren’t the complete bulk of what House of Atreus have writ in the chamber but rather present as a grouping of pieces which make sense together per their shared tonality and subject. Entrenched in heavier death metal directive and a more deliberate pace these songs generally enjoy crisp but not entirely wiped clean render when compared to earlier efforts from the band. Some additional clarity is achieved in setting a distinct dual-rhythmic tonal pairing with the right channel typically serving directive thunder and the left-lower register essentially harmonizing in emphasis or to help complete a phrase. This is key in terms of creating an 80’s heavy metal directed mode which dominates their songcraft even more (but not entirely) this time around.

The quartet’s work has always wielded its own twist upon arcane battlements but hasn’t escaped the challenge of listeners who couldn’t necessarily see the personae of House of Atreus developing beyond their key influences. I’d already made the argument for looking past the Arghoslent comparisons when reviewing ‘From the Madness of Ixion‘ yet as you step into the swinging-hard charge of “Orations / Reascension of Mastery” and the steadily marched through ride of “Cathedral of Ancestry” there is the sense that this semblance isn’t necessarily harming the outcome. The addition of guitarist Narcissus Interitus helps to add clarity to this familiar and squarely United States-borne style of melodic death metal, his sharpened technique bringing out more of the Majk Moti-era Running Wild in thier sound. This is of course only part of the equation as they’ve not set aside their black/death metal interest per the trudging mills of “Under and Accursed Dynasty” and the patiently slung chest thumping foray that is “Thy Wounded Sovereignty” where we get a bit more of a rasp and some extra Hellenic black metal infused leads around the bend of each verse.

‘Epic’ yet urgently stated these songs implicate an intended balance between the excitement of speed metal’s interruptive, violent edge and a monstrous treatment of melody as pacing for mayhem, edging toward their knack for the latter while maintaining death metallic posture. If you’re one to lean toward the aggression of death metal a piece like “Morphos of Degeneration” is arguably one of the more ‘old school’ death metal feeling grooves they’ve written to date and easily the most concussive song on this ~33 minute mLP, goin so far as to break into an early Vader-esque whorl when it comes time for a burst of speed and a howling lead at its apex. This’d feel like a shocking induction at this point on the full listen if not for the more percussive stomping of “Under an Accursed Dynasty” before it, an arm-swinging core riff progression which intensifies and even blackens before it has flexed its full stride. This works for the sake of the running order being expertly considered, presented in logical succession which creates a transfixed sense of movement from subject to subject, riff to riff, by way of grouping pieces which relate rather than clash.

To top off the experience we get a well-advised cover of Running Wild‘s “Riding the Storm” a theatric show opener, and album opener for the brilliant ‘Death or Glory‘ circa 1989, which ends ‘Orations‘ on a high note per its anthem to fortitude and persistence. This was one of the biggest singles from that era of the band and a live staple following up on the explosive popularity of the likewise Rock n’ Rolf written “Conquistadores” as the peaking Mark II formation of that band escalated toward elaborate shanty-sized melodies. Point being that it makes sense that Anxietous Nero‘s vocals swap to a cleaner tone in order to preserve the strong vocal melody at the heart of the piece, else they’ve have to rearrange it further beyond the slower pace and nixing of the prolonged intro often applied to different versions of the song. Even if they only ever end up using that type of vocal for this song alone it adds some extra texture to the full listen, extending the vocal interest displayed within repeated or “left on repeat” listening sessions. For my own taste repeat listens were a given as ‘Orations‘ not only extends the oeuvre available to the always impressive House of Atreus but smartly focuses on the traditional heavy metal spiritus of their work, writing rousing pieces which keep the momentum frothing and the tuneful energy flowing throughout. Another point of mastery from this already formidable band and a substantial enough release to hold fast to while their future stratagem develops. A very high recommendation. [89/100]

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