Feu Gregeois - Mortis Regnum – 2nd Circle (2010)

All the way from France, today we have Feu Gregeois debut album “Mortis Regnum – 2nd Circle”. Featuring an interesting combination of lush keyboard arrangements and traditional Death/Black Metal elements, this release marks for a very unpredictable and interesting approach to the genres.

With five instrumental pieces in this 38 minute release we are treated to a mix bag of emotions, but left very pleased with the final result. Some people might say that some of this songs are nothing but filler pieces, but they somehow manage to nicely separate the album’s ‘brutal’ tracks and keep things in perspective allowing “Mortis Regnum” to flow in a very unconventional manner.

Immediately after the opening ‘orchestral’ piece “Mortis Regnum”, the band treats us to a mid-tempo Death/ Black metal track with “Bloodshed”. With a WTF look, we quickly find ourselves enjoying the rudimentary riffing and growl/shriek vocal approach to things. The use of keyboard highlights makes this song a bit more enjoyable (and different) than your typical Death/Black Metal piece and we completely dig this combination of elements.

Going back and forth between traditional mid-paced Death/Black songs, the band manages to create a very diverse and unpredictable atmosphere that will surely make you scratch your head a few times, but will grow on you very easily. Other tracks like “Sentence of Death” even feature some passages that might be considered Power Metal-esque, just adding to the overall weirdness of this release. Another perfect example of this weirdness is presented in “The Warlord”, when the band breaks out with a killer solo and an interesting slowdown section.

As you can imagine, the guitar riffing is very effective and crushing in terms of Death Metal, but the solos are what makes the songs have a different edge to them. The keyboards are very dramatic and give that nice atmospheric element that big-name bands (and Melodic DM/BM bands) are loved for. The drumming is very tight and creates very nice tempo changes through the album. The vocals are standard and when paired with clean choir sections sound completely chilling and original.

In general, we have to recognize that while “Mortis Regnum – 2nd Circle” is a very unconventional release, we found ourselves enjoying every minute of it. It might be the unpredictable nature of the band, or just the ‘adorned’ straight forward approach to Death/Black Metal, but one thing is for sure: this is a quality band that easily has more interesting releases in their future. So head over to the band’s website and order your copy of this very diverse and fresh sounding debut album.

Release: December 1st, 2010

Country: France