Shrine of the Serpent - Shrine of the Serpent (2015)

   Shrine of the Serpent debuted with a stunning EP (the basically could be a full-length album by its nearly 30 mins of duration if it wasn't death/doom), that served as an accurate introduction for the band's (unfortunately) short career. 
   While the music definitely reflects the traditional aspect of the style, that focuses on absolute hopelessness, strongly demoralizing tone, and completely lacks aesthetic or romantic features; the crystal clear sound that was picked is usual at the more popular form of death/doom. At one hand it's advantageous, cause it's also a way to highlight the music's rumbling heaviness, and to show the endless depths of desperation, but a noisier, dirtier sound could have been more effective if that was the goal. Anyways, the EP includes everything why death/doom could be preferred. It's ominous, down-pulling and includes such a dark atmosphere, that would be difficult to compete with in any other styles. During the 3 extended songs the band did a great job by keep building up the songs slowly step by step and avoiding monotony meanwhile. The compositions are simple, nothing unexpected happens, it's high quality death/doom in its raw simplicity. Could be a potential favorite for the fans of the genre.

Marilyn Manson - The Pale Emperor (2015)

   Officially the 2003 released "The Golden Age of Grotesque" was Marilyn Manson's last commercially successful album and the band have been at their peak of success being played as frequently as never before (though it was pretty much a forgettable album). Over a decade long silence came after that basically wasn't silent, since 3 albums came out meanwhile, only they've been completely inostensible. And unexpectedly Marilyn Manson have returned with "The Pale Emperor", a record, that brought back exactly that kind of music what used to make people liking their music so much. However, a few things have been changed meanwhile in general.
   Even though the music was able to bring back what so many have been waiting for, and the album also included the same spirit, that insulted every good hypochristian American back then, Mr. Manson didn't become a common scapegoat like how he used to be back then (which also meant no free commercial). The world has changed meanwhile. Rough social criticism didn't reach people's unjustified oversensitivity in the mid '10s like 15 years ago, such as Mr. Manson's androgynous appearance. First the emo subculture, later the rainbow cult turned the whole thing as a trend, therefore the shock rock factor didn't work like before, and this definitely had effect on the sales. However "The Pale Emperor" was able to reach the quality that was long lost after "Holy Wood" by including plenty of catchy songs that are both reflecting some actual and plenty of good old features. The band's darker, more ominous tone with raw social criticism wasn't new, but long time missing, and its return proved to be the best step that the band have made in the past 15 years. It worked well even being combined with the softer and more chilling tone, that have been completely usual during the forgettable period. This way the music became catchy, easy to go into and a bit more diverse too, though diversity in Mr. Manson's music was never a sensible factor during exact albums. Probably the endeavours of creating unified sound have been responsible for the homogeneity of each Marilyn Manson album. For most old fans "The Pale Emperor" finally wasn't disappointing and could have been nostalgic too, cause it recalled the feeling why they've become Marilyn Manson fans back then.

Relentless - Night Terrors (2015)

    As it was previously mentioned, Relentless was formed as a strongly doom influenced heavy metal band. Their music had such old school touch that was long lost from the main metal scene, and their second album, "Night Terrors" gave a slightly different perspective for the same ancient, and therefore very familiar concept.
   Even though the doom metal influence still could be sensed, it was restricted to the lyrical concept and vocal style, while from the music it was nearly gone. Only for one song ("Ancient Realm") it have returned similarly like on the debut, bust still without doom metal riffs. Basically intense heavy metal themes are dominant during the whole album, slow tempo isn't usual anymore, but still the ominous, vintage doom feeling is there, thanks to Miss Carlee Jackson's impressive vocal performance. Even if vocals alone are basically not used to be enough to determine the style of the music, they're definitely enough to give another tone for it. "Night Terrors" also have excellent themes, that doesn't make ordinary heavy metal to seem retired like most who are tryings to bring back the style (not if there would be many bands trying), but it's quite refreshing to hear something vintage and great the same time in nowadays metal scene. "Night Terrors" might be pretty enjoyable for both the fans of  '80s heavy and doom metal. 

Holocaustum - In the Fields They Bled (2015)

   By their returning album, Holocaustum continued the musically diverse path of their debut with some great improvements. 
   The role of the atmospheric sound decreased, and cleaner, heavier sound took its place. This turned out to be an advantageous step, cause therefore the catchy, melodic themes gained more focus. The album's musical wealthiness is pretty impressive, it's way more diverse than an ordinary death metal album, but at the other hand the themes are enough unified and the song structures having enough evident continuity, to not switch on progressive field. If not basically heavy/power metal with growling vocal style would cover the term melodic death metal, Holocaustum's music could serve as a more accurate definition. It's melodic and didn't lose the death metal musical features, unlike most bands sorted to the melodic death subgenre. The guitar themes also having even more blackened touch than before, which are responsible for the remaining atmospheric impression. Combined with the intense drumming style, many of their compositions could fit into black metal too. This also made the band kinda exceptional, since similar theme selection isn't usual at American bands in general, and they definitely did it better than most Americans who claimed to play black metal. In total "In the Fields They Bleed" is an excellent, quite diverse and enjoyable album, could be a potential favorite for the fans of death, black/death and melodic death metal.

Seraphic Disgust - Altarcunt (2015)

   Seraphic Disgust's short, kinda EP length, and stunning debut includes more surprises and diversity that used to be expected from a black/death band. 
   The album's imagery strongly reminds to how war metal covers used to look like, but the band's music is way more diverse than how war metal used to be. "Altarcunt" starts with a pretty heavy and intense song that's definitely sounds like black/death metal at its best. But as the album goes on the measure of old school death themes are slowly increasing, and the songs becoming more '90s old school death oriented. And meanwhile slower themes showing up too, leaving behind some strong death/doom impression. If this step by step switch wasn't intentional and it's just the consequence of the band member's various influences, it could be taken as the raw, experimenting approach of a young band trying to find their own style. If it was intentional, the combination of black, death and doom metal instantly reminding to Goatlord, not to mention the mixed influenced music of  '90s South American extreme metal bands. The assistance of two different vocal styles (deep growling and black metal styled cawing) also showing orientation for black/death or to death metal the same time. Whatever could be the case, by "Altarcunt" Seraphic Disgust left open various possibilities how to continue their musical journey, and all possible options (black/death, death/doom, or even the combination of both) could sound quite promising. 

Gruesome - Savage Land (2015)

   Similar to Skeletal Remains, Gruesome also formed as band self-dedicated not only to recall the feeling of the early '90s death metal the most accurately, but also to imitate Death's "Spiritual Healing" era the most accurately as possible. 
   The production, the sound, and the themes are all great as they are, and the music probably wouldn't be so annoying for those who never listened to Death, but if individuality and genuineness does have any importance for the listener, the charisma of "Savage Land" would probably vanish in the moment when "Spiritual Healing" would get introduced. How does it make sense to basically recreate a classic album by the same themes only to put them together in different order and into different songs? Probably an ordinary tribute album with cover songs would make it better. Even if it's clear for everyone that they intended to tribute to the legacy of Death in their own way, or that it's just a fun made thing, where the only sign of creativity comes in the form of riffs and themes taken from other Death albums. This is something that nowadays AI could do as well, and probably in 2015 it wasn't the case, but still, it was basically a useless effort to create something valueless. But the most entertaining paradox was the positive welcome by many music critics, who used to pull down most extreme bands by marking them as nothing new, cause their stimulus-threshold could be crossed mostly by hipster music. But when they hear something that could serve as the most accurate definition of a rip-off, the antithesis of vision or imagination, they actually digging it. Or maybe was it the importance of the concept again? If it's announced and stated at the very beginning, that the concept is copying a classic band, it makes the performance more enjoyable for some than whole genre or style based influences could be?
   However, Gruesome's music is mainly recommended for hipster metal journalists/music critics and their followers, for everyone else: just keep listening to Death instead. 

Baphomets Horns - Atomik Warfuck Extermination (2014)

   Bathomets Horns had a stunning debut in 2008, but by the compilation "Atomik Warfuck Extremination" was released "posthumously" so to say, since the band did split-up already in 2010. 
    It was mentioned previously plenty of times, that American black metal is a pretty rare thing to find, since the genre didn't spark much attention there, and the great majority of American black metal bands are basically playing war metal, and those who aren't, are usually not free from death metal influences either. Therefore Baphomets Horns' approach of black metal also wasn't ordinary either of course. The concept, spirit and imagery definitely reflected the features and the strong influence of war metal, and the compilation introduces the band's short but swift journey. Their first demo "Satanic War Fucking metal" gave the first half of the record, that despite its title wasn't as intense as war metal used to be, and it was closer to ordinary black metal in themes. So close, that it was nearly free of death metal features, and sounded similar to raw black metal. But the atmosphere was still missing, and the focus completely lied on the rawness of the music. The second half of the compilation includes some songs on their full-length album "Perpetrators of Genocide", and a few rehearsal songs, that are unquestionably having all required exaggerated features of war metal. 

Alekhine's Gun - ...and Kings Will Fall (2014)

   When it comes to the combination of death and groove metal, most might first think about bands like Obituary or Six Feet Under, since their music defines groove/death the best. But there's also a worrying second thought bonded to these big names that leads to features like long, completely homogenous and eventless discographies full of monotonous groovy bouncing played by nearly retired musicians, that eventually might make the audience feel retired as well. Fortunately Alekhine's Gun are able to scatter these worries immediately, since they've proved that it's possible to play groove/death metal differently and even to make it diverse. 
    However, their music is also more mixed than what should be expected from similar bands. There are hardcore and even blackened elements to find. The first is mainly represented in the vocal style (by actress Jessica Pimentel by the way), in the music the hardcore features are merged into the groovy themes. The blackened touch getting revealed in the drumming style, but occasionally it shows up in the leading guitar themes as well. By turning back to groove/death, it's important to mention that by adding more intensity to the music, it seems like Alekhine's Gun took the death metal part more seriously than most bands in this style, and this new perspective could even redefine how this subgenre could or should sound like. Most importantly: despite the band having various influences, their music is pretty unified. The songs are well composed, the sound is great, and the only weak point of the EP is its short duration. In total, Alekhine's Gun has quite high potential, and  probably by being a hobby or side project of the band members, they aren't as productive as it might be needed to become a big name in the metal scene. 

Massacre - Back From Beyond (2014)

   As Massacre had to wait for their debut back then in the early '90s despite being one of the earliest death metal bands; so they had to wait for a while for their return decades later when the style had its Renaissance by the New Wave of Old School Death Metal. The band also had a less fortunate style changing intention in '96 after the collapse of death metal by their second album "Promise", that not only most fans, but also the band wishes to forget about. Though the kinda Pantera-like groove metal experiment with private life drama based lyrics basically wasn't a bad idea, especially compared to the lately formed nu metal scene. But it definitely wasn't the cup of tea of the band's old audience and it would have been better if it was released under a different name. 

   However, even though if the delayed retun didn't impress the audience as much as it was expected, "Back From Beyond" was a decent album with great songs, excellent sound and production. Except the album art and the old logo, the presence of Terry Butler and Rick Rozz from the original lineup are referring to the old times, and many probably had right if they didn't find this sufficient for a real continuity. Cause basically the music wasn't different from what any other death metal bands were doing at the time. Like anyone else could have done this album under a different name. The old logo, the album art, and Mr. Rozz's short noisy solos just didn't seem enough, though Edwin Webb's vocal style also did fit well. Their concept was also definitely better than what most old bands used to do after their return by trying to imitate what they did 20+ years ago and becoming their own tribube bands (what actually did happen with Massacre later on and the band was also photocopied by Inhuman Condition thanks to Terry Butler). And in case of radical style change the audience becomes unsatisfied again, so big returns are always difficult, and not many bands can find their countings if they expect more than some nostalgia led by the side effects of midlife crisis. Anyways, "Back From Beyond" was a good direction, not an intention to remake everything exactly how things have been back then, and also no drastic changes were included. Only one thing was missing. That tiny plus that's always pretty difficult to describe. That something that gave Massacre its own identity back then, and despite everything else was at its place, this tiny something proved to be enough to not receive the welcome that was desired. Except that "Back From Beyond" is quite enjoyable as a Massacre album or even as a random death metal album, and still it could be a potential favorite for the fans of the genre.

Serpentine Path - Emanations (2014)

   Serpentine Path debuted with their self-titled album in 2012, that despite its unified, simple and obscure form, showed mixed influences.

   On the side of death/doom and sludge/doom features there have been features frequently appearing that are more common in stoner/doom, or in the mix of stoner, sludge and doom metal to be more accurate. Serpentine Path did a pretty good job by using these related features and forge them into unified sound. "Emanations" strictly continued this line, and similar to the first album, it was again an excellent heavy, noisy and down-pulling record. Since the band preferred to keep the same slowly rolling heaviness, that could express well endlessly lasting agony without any hope of relief, the album might sound be monotonous after a while, but the great production made it sure that for the lovers of stoner/sludge/doom and death/doom metal it's a potential long term favorite.

Fórn - The Departure of Consciousness (2014)

   Fórn has debuted with a stunning and pretty obscure demo (or EP), that served well as a self-introduction and as an accurate description about what should be expected from the band in the followings. 

   The same line was continued on their first full-length album "The Departure of Consciousness". It could have been expected even at the self-titled demo that Fórn isn't just another ordinary sludge/doom band. The depths that they've reached on their first album are incredible and suddenly they've become one of the best bands of the style. The excellent sound and high quality production had great assistance in reaching that level. The songs usually drifting between slow, melodic down-pulling melancholy and noisy, overwhelming heaviness, creating strong contrast. But probably the most effective parts are when these two features are combined and their showing their effectiveness together. A perfect combination of desperate feelings and the oppressing weight of hopelessness.

   Strongly recommended for the fans of sludge/doom!

Keeper - MMXIV (2014)

   Keeper formed as a sludge/doom in 2014, band and shortly after they released an impressive demo, that gave a taste about their potential.
   Despite the very noisy, aggressive and rough first song, the record in total prefers to express a strongly down-pulling and endlessly sour feeling, that's closer to hopeless melancholy than to noisy heaviness. This line was continued on their late releases as well, though the heavy rawness didn't disappear completely.  Sad that they didn't focus more on raw heaviness in the followings, since the combination of their pretty basic themes and strongly distorted sound proved to be a pretty effective tool, that could have been dropped in any time, even to make their music a bit more intense and diverse. The band had affinity for black metal influences as well, and since sludgy and blackened atmosphere doesn't really fitting together, this blackened touch is kinda restricted like in case of American bands in general. There are blackened themes appearing in some form in at least 3 songs, and the vocal style also could be related to the style, but in this kinda low amount and by this sound these doesn't really count as determining features. The strongly demoralizing and desperate feeling of sludge staying dominant and for those who prefer this direction on exaggerated level, this demo might become a big favorite. 

Temple of Void - Of Terror and the Supernatural (2014)

   In an old interview with Temple of Void it was written that they want to be the best death/doom band of the world. By the release of their debut "Of Terror and the Supernatural" the whole thing didn't even sound as an exaggeration, since the record sparked wider attention than what non-romantic death/doom bands used to get.
   No wonder, because the album was all-round excellent. Maybe a bit more intense than how most bands in this style used to be, but this at one hand was quite advantageous, since the slower and more miserable extreme music is, the lower is its chance to reach wider audiences. And the whole thing suited their music well, that despite had high quality sound and was definitely fitting into the main scene of the mid '10s, also had quite strong early '90s touch. It wasn't the well known tendency of the underground that focused on musical minimalism and the increased importance of noisy sound  possibilities. On the side of higher intensity, the band operated with simple, but catchy melodies, great heavy riffs and more diverse drumming style that could also reach the tempo of ordinary death metal. This resulted not only a wider perspective and more diverse main view, but also it was a step ahead of the meantime developing complexity based tendencies of the underground. Whether it was an intentional step from the band, or they simply enjoyed old school death and death/doom bands and just wanted to play what they like, the timing was great, seemed like a brave step, and turned out to be pretty effective the same time. The measures of raw heaviness and melodic melancholy are balanced and completing each other well, therefore the album didn't become one sided or repetitive in any directions. In total: "Of Terror and the Supernatural" definitely became one of the best death/doom albums ever, and became an unavoidable release of the subgenre. 

Ealdath - Ancient Oath (2014)

   Ealdath was a short lived death/doom band with only one very impressive demo record, that could be also nominated to a "longest demo tapes" competition on the side of Esoteric's debut. 
   This 50 minutes long record is divided to 4 songs, and despite the songs extended lengths, they simply never turning overly monotonous or boring, thanks to the excellence of their compositions and catchy themes. It might be not an exaggeration to state, that "Ancient Oath" is one of the best records of the death/doom subgenre. And the same time one of the most underrated ones too, unfortunately. The way how the features of the down pulling, traditional form of death/doom and its audience friendlier, softer, melancholic aspect are merged is genius. Probably the sound, that isn't bad at all for a demo, since it's a studio record, but still not on the level of high quality death/doom albums, also had role in creating the impression of diversity. The simple noisy riffs can't be as noisy as they supposed to in similar cases, but this had advantageous effect on the main view. However, the excellent themes that could be heard on "Ancient Oath" requiring practiced musicians with complete understanding of the style. For the experiences involved, probably Josh Banke (bass), Tim Call (drumms) and Kody Keyworth (guitar) could be found responsible, since all 3 members played together in Aldeberan since a while. The music has quite '90s feeling, possible influences could be Winter, Paramaecium, Ceremonium, Thorns of the Carrion and Paradise Lost. The combination of catchy themes, soft melodies, and heaviness is pretty effective and well applied. Despite the plenty of suspected influences and the fact that Ealdath's music didn't offer anything new, their perspective gave the subgenre a pretty extensive and obvious definition, that was seemingly performed with ease. 
   Strongly recommended for the fans of death/doom!

Nausea - Condemned to the System (2014)

   Formed in 1987, Nausea counts as one of the earliest grindcore bands, on the side of Napalm Death, Extreme Noise Terror, Carcass, Repulsion and Terrorizer. But unlike these fellow coatenous bands, Nausea had to wait longer for a full-length release, and didn't spark wider attention. It was partly due to their debut's poor rehearsal quality, and partly because of the primitiveness of their early music, that simply couldn't even keep up with the intensity of other grindcore bands.
   While "Crime Against Humanity" was still kind of an experimenting death/grind album filled with a lot of basic punk influenced themes, their returning album, "Condemned to the System" decades later did reach the quality and intensity that a grind/death or grindcore band supposed to. The second album is basically incomparable with "Crime Against Humanity". However, more than 2 decades have been passed meanwhile, and after so many things did happen in the underground on the side of the renaissance of grindcore, that mainly came in the form of porngrind, this kind of strongly Napalm Death and Terrorizer influenced death/grind sounds quite vintage. The concept is also strongly relatable with those two bands. The production is high quality and flawless, and whether the band's intention was to create what they couldn't perform in the early '90s, or just to return to their roots, and release an old school styled album that's actually the main scene was pretty much missing since a long while, they definitely succeeded in both cases. Recommended for the fans of old school grindcore!

Nekrofilth - Devil's Breath (2013)

  Nekrofilth took a slightly different path than most late old school death metal inspired bands formed in the late '00s. They went back further to the past by adding punk influences into their music, and similar style combinations always giving new dimensions to musical minimalism. But despite their unusual methods, their music definitely fits to the new waved old school bands as some genuine gem in a more or less homogeneous pile. 

   If it's about punk combined with death metal, in this way it definitely works better than Impetigo back then and it's also way more enjoyable. The ancient, '80s-like spirit the band recalled is mostly reminding to Nunslaughter, thanks to it's simple but raw approach. But on the side of simplicity, by the nearly narrative vocal style, old Necrophagia might also come to mind. The production and the sound makes it evident, that "Devil's Breath" isn't some mysteriously long lost old school classic. The freshness and intensity of the album is comparable to newer thrash/death bands, who intending to recreate the core of musical extremity by focusing on it's possible cross-roads. The main tone is quite aggressive and that gives a lot to the music's effectiveness. Compromise-less, dirty, blackguard and explicit. The best possible implementation for a combination of thrash/death and hardcore punk. Strongly recommended for the fans of the filthiest old school musickness! 

Morbosidad - Muerte de Cristo en Gólgota (2013)

   It's not exaggeration to say that since their debut, Morbosidad became one of the cornerstones of war metal. By keep releasing excellent musickness from time to time, they simply can't disappoint. Even though the borders of the style are pretty strict, their music is easy to distinguish from other related bands. On the side of fitting to high standards, having an own character plays also an important role in their wide recognition.

   Despite they have never been famous about soft approach, "Muerte de Chisto en Gólgotha" was still surprisingly intense and sick by grabbing the listener firm at the very start and keeping them down in the most insane depths of musickness until it ends (or until the listener drowns). The formula is the same as always, but by better sound than previously and the songs seemed a bit more complex than before. A quite slight but sensible change that proved to be advantageous. As the upper mentioned strict borders restricting too much (or any) diversity in this style, the same rule is bonding the musicians hands about making different sounding albums. Not if they would be necessary. If someone's listening to war metal, progression or the need for diversity are simply not on the wish list. In this case or in similar cases in general, they just adding more to the identifiable character of the band. However, Morbosidad seemed pretty comfortable with the circumstances, and fast realized, that in tiny steps it's still possible to involve some changes. And even if probably changes the line-up were the main indicators and had influence in the whole thing, the results still became effective and extremely enjoyable the same time. Another disharmonic masterpiece by Morbosidad!

Symptom - Opulent Atrocity (2013)

   After two impressive EP releases Symptom have returned with a full-length album, that successfully exceeded the previous EPs. 

   It's partly due to it's way better sound, cause "Opulent Atrocity" didn't have rehearsal quality anymore, and it had quite advantageous effect on the heavy themes. The sound is still more dull than usual, and that's kinda restricting the possibilities to experiment with noisy sound. Also all instruments sounding weaker, and in case of some details and themes it's also too restrictive. For instance there are some pretty good bass lines to be heard on the album, but only if they would sound a bit louder, they could add even more to the main view. This dull sound would be more ideal if the atmosphere had bigger role, but in general picking this sound wasn't a too bad idea, since great themes are ruling the album. And this leads to the second improvement, the diverse themes. There are more speed and theme switches than before, stronger death metal influences could be found, and the whole thing just swinged into some uncomfortable disharmony, that keeps returning during the album. The slow, heavy themes didn't disappear, but their duration shortened, and by the involvement of intense, extreme disharmony, the contrast between death metal and death/doom themes increased. This cathartic song composition could remind to bands like Incantation or Disma, but their presence sounds somehow more raw. They're not evolving further, not creating any bond or continuity with the slower, heavy themes, they just happening. This contrast creation could be also linked to an anxious  level of unpredictability. Like even if things seem pretty dire, a bolt from the (dark) blue still could happen, and it does happen more often than how it should, giving a more ominous feeling than before.

Six Feet Under - Unborn (2013)

   When Chris Barnes formed Six Feet Under, it became clear that it's going to be way more audience friendlier by its retired, middle speed groovy themes than Cannibal Corpse. Party compatible music in the Obituary way, so to say. But despite the slowly but determined uprising success and mainstream status that the band earned eventually, it was also clear that this style cannot offer many opportunities, especially if a band is formed by Al Bundy-like boomers. With time the whole thing collapsed into forgettable boredom, and not even the "Graveyard Classics" albums have been able to change that, though the idea seemed to be interesting and funny at first. 

   However, after reaching the very depths, something happened to Six Feet Under that allowed the band to rewrite unwritten rules: a lineup change that had very advantageous effect on their music. Getting rid of the former rhythm section (Greg Gall - drums, Terry Butler - bass) turned out to be the best thing that happened with the band so far. It might be not an exaggeration to say that the band's 11th full-length album (Graveyard Classics included) "Undead" became the best Six Feet Under album so far. On the following album "Unborn" this line was continued but extended even further, and embedded into better sound. If it's about old bands with longer discography, usually the early albums are the best ones (with a few exceptions, like Pantera), and lineup changes also rarely leading to such refreshing results. And a musically uprising series of albums are even less likely to happen, but this is exactly what happened. Previously their repetitive, monotonous groovy themes have been so dead, that the band's name sounded pretty accurate from other perspectives too, but since "Undead" yet unheard diversity filled these themes with life. Such a drastic drastic change is one thing, but so diverse groove metal is also pretty unusual. Stepping back to the more complex themes of old school death metal, and involving other, more technical influences by the new band members worked just perfectly alongside the groovy basics. "Unborn" (and "Undead") are recommended even for those, who haven't been impressed by older Six Feet Under records. 
 

Dream Death - Somnium Excessum (2013)

    Dream Death was formed in 1985, and during their short active period in the '80s they've released one full-length album, that sounded quite unusual at the time, especially compared to other coetaneous American bands. Their themes and sound strongly reminded to Celtic Frost, and their music in general was like a mix of hardcore/crossover thrash and doom metal. Even if "Journey into Mystery" didn't receive wide attention back then, with time the album got rediscovered by underground audiences and gained a cultic status because of its genuine sound. 

   Probably this outcome of events (on the side of the necessarily occuring nostalgia wave of aging musicians) led the band members to resurrect Dream Death two decades later. They've recalled their old style with success, but this time focusing more on the contrast of hardcore/crossover thrash and doom themes. The Celtic Frost influences are still there, but their importance reduced a bit. By this step, the narrative, shouting vocal style have lost its only validating holding ground, and it's ineffectiveness is floating above heavier than before. Especially since the '80s have been over since a long while. Honestly, this style mix have never been an absolute win, since these two styles are kinda difficult to merge and perform by leaving behind something unified and enjoyable. The song structures and musical solutions are interesting though, but the same time they just making the songs harder to go into. Back then the old Celtic Frost influences did have unifying role, while their strong presence took a lot from the band's genuineness, but by their reduced role, this unity was damaged. "Somnium Excessum" sounds like a less advantageous form of an early Carnivore influenced Type O Negative album, that was lost somewhere between two exaggerated points. For the fans of special and unusual music experiments it might be worth to give it a listen.