GENUS ORDINIS DEI have returned after a three year wait with their fourth full-length album, "The Beginning," released July 20th through American record label Eclipse Records. It's likely many of you have never heard of this band, so I'll briefly introduce you. GENUS ORDINIS DEI is currently a three-man group based in Crema, Italy. Since their formation in 2009, they have released three albums prior to their most recent one: "The Middle" in 2013, "Great Olden Dynasty" in 2017, and "Glare of Deliverance" in 2020. Their music has mainly been described as Symphonic Death Metal, Groove Metal, and Metalcore. It sounds like an unlikely combination, but based on my analysis of "The Beginning," the band's fusion of these three genres is a solid effort.

"Aeternus" is not only the opening track to GENUS ORDINIS DEI's fourth album, but it's also the longest one. It also mainly sounds like a Groove Metal track, with slow and heavy guitar riffs from Tommy Monticello and Niccoló Cadregari. However, the next track "Changing Star" sees the band incorporating more Death Metal elements, such as blast beating from drummer Nicola Pedrali. "Genesis" is a more balanced version with equal elements of Groove and Death Metal (albeit without symphonic music) and even has clean vocals in the background of Cadregari's low-pitched growling. After "The Divine Order" and "Blackstone" comes my personal favorite track from the album, "We Are The Strangers." With tribal-style music mixed in with the Symphonic Death and Groove Metal, including terrific blast beats from Nicola Pedrali, there is absolutely no reason to dislike this particular song. However, I couldn't say the same for "The Shaman," which mostly sounded like tribal drumming with eerie chants. "The Dragon and The Sword" was definitely much better. The rhythm of the track even sounded strikingly similar to "Upon A Pale Horse," a hit song by the legendary Polish Black-Death band BEHEMOTH.

GENUS ORDINIS DEI delivers a relatively emotional track called "For a New Order" before bringing the record to an intense close with "The Fortress Without Gates." In between these ten creative tracks by the Italian trio, they also included two extremely short instrumental pieces: "Chant of the Water" and "Chant of the Wind." "Chant of the Water"–the album's fourth track–literally has the sound of rainfall. The same analogy applies to "Chant of the Wind," with the sound of a low, haunting wind gust. While I admire the creativity of the band with these instrumental tracks, I honestly didn't think they were necessary, as they both clock up to only less than 2 out of the 57 minutes of "The Beginning." On the bright side, while GENUS ORDINIS DEI currently does not have an official bassist, guest musician Danilo Arisi fills in for this role. Therefore, the band doesn't fall short in this arena.

Needless to say, "The Beginning" is far from a perfect album. There wasn't a lot of symphonic music mixed in with the Death Metal elements, as well as a lack of Metalcore-style breakdowns. However, based on the areas where the band has its strengths, it's safe to say there's a lot of potential for the trio from Crema, Italy. But if you want to form your opinion rather than just blindly accept mine, then go ahead and give this album a try.