Betrayer / Neolith - Beware / Of the Angel and His Orison

BETRAYER / NEOLITH - Beware / Of the Angel and His Orison (FALLEN TEMPLE - Split 7"EP 2014)

Here is a very special seven inch! Why? Because it contains a brand new song from the resurrected Betrayer! And yes, I know that nowadays many old bands are coming back from the dead, some only intend doing few gigs, some decide to record new music (and that in 90% of the cases turns into something totally mediocre and forgettable, proving that we wouldn’t lose anything if these bands never reformed)… But Betrayer was always kind of special band for me, as they along with some other Polish death metal bands, were one of my truly favourites back in the early 90’s. I loved to listen to “Necromantical Exmortis” and later when I bought “Calamity” cassette I was simply blown away. Now, 20 years later, I am able to listen to the new song from Betrayer and for me it is like a special event, you know?

OK, it is only one song, titled “Beware” (which I already knew from the video the band did few months ago), but it is great enough to rise interest and appetite for some more! Yes! What I like about “Beware” is how natural it sounds, not like something what was forced because of the current trends or something… And it sounds old school, because this is old band and Berial was there, back in the early 90’s! What I also like is that while some of these old crews, which came back decided either to update their sound and style into more modern stuff or forced themselves to play something what sounds not natural and passionless, but in case of Betrayer it is the opposite! “Beware” has a wonderful, harsh and organic production and the song simply sounds like old, classic death metal. Great riffs and vocals, a lot of diversity within one track (slower parts, some more melodic leads and even fast, blasting stuff… do you need anything more?!). It is really good track and after hearing it I can only hope to hear some more from Betrayer!

But hold on! Betrayer’s “Beware” is on side A, while on side B there’s a new song from band called Neolith. And I must be honest here – I’ve never been much into this band. I have heard some of their early stuff and it was just boring doomy death metal, so typical for the end of the 90’s Polish scene that it quickly got forgotten. And maybe it is why I never bothered to check any recordings of Neolith from the 00’s. But after hearing this split with Betrayer I must update my collection quickly, because “Of the Angel and His Orison” sounds truly fuckin awesome. When compared to Betrayer, this song sounds more like modern extreme death / black metal stuff, maybe even close to other Polish giants like Hate and Behemoth, but damn, it is great anyway! Very powerful and aggressive, very energetic and perfectly sounding, blasting stuff, with some truly killer riffs and ideas. Yes, I liked it a lot. Definitely Neolith turned out to be a great surprise, something I did not expect to be that good! And I suppose there’s only one thing, which I do not like – which are some of the background keyboard parts used in few moments, but it is nothing what would make me dislike the whole song. No way! “Of the Angel and His Orison” is really damn awesome!

Final rate: 80/100