Deus Ignotus - Procession of an Old Religion (2014)

   Similar to most Mediterranean and Greek black metal bands, Deus Ignotus also sounds way more heavier and brutal than usual. Even though they've been sorted as a black metal band, it wouldn't be a big mistake to call their music as black/death metal. And most probably it would be more accurate that way.
   On the side of a frequently returning blackened lead, the structures of their songs are also reflecting the basics of black metal, but their sound is just as heavy and noisy as death metal supposed to be, not to mention the deep growling vocal style. Even if this combination is not intentional, but more like the result of an experiment to sound wilder and more aggressive than how ordinary black metal sounds like, or to give an easily distinguishing feature to their local scene - since it's a common enough to call it as a specific local trend -, the whole thing ends up exciting and interesting enough to catch the listener's attention. Probably the fans of the the traditional blackened sound might not find their countings in Deus Ignotus' music, since atmosphere has reduced role, and instead overwhelming heaviness is in the band's focus. However, by the black metal basics the music is easier to go into, since it's more melodic than if it was ordinary death metal, and this combination is pretty enjoyable in general.