"The Spear and the Ichor That Follows" is Minnesota-based Melodic Death Metal band HOUSE OF ATREUS's debut album, and a damn good start. With a name invoking the legendary heroes Agamemnon and Menelaus, the band promises much at the start... but do they deliver?

The musical onslaught that is HOUSE OF ATREUS starts at the very first track of the album and continues throughout: the rhythm pummelling that I love so much in the genre present with a vengeance, with many beautiful leads relieving the tension of the rhythmic monotony inherent therein. Now pay attention, 'cause this one's a doozy: you know how like ninety percent of Melodeath bands seem to have a so-so vocalist, delivering rather weak vocals? Yeah, well, not here! Anxietous Nero delivers a vocal performance that wouldn't shame a vocalist with plenty more notches on his belt, and does it with whatever passes for grace in such a brutal form of art.

The music itself, when not on the brutal end of the spectrum, tends to lean towards the dramatic and epic side of things (yeah, I guess I should have expected nothing less to look at the band, album and track names) - but it does not succumb to the cheese you'd usually find on the Dramatic Side of the Force, and leads to that unmistakable feeling of the blood rushing in your veins.

The guitar leads give the songs the melody that growls lack, and the solos themselves keep you on your toes, varying from shred to slow, pentatonic to diatonic - keeping your ear intent on the music.
I usually don't talk about individual songs, thinking the overall feeling of a record is far more important than any single song (and thus conforming with the vagaries of futurism), but in this case I must point out the beginning of the song "Oresteia. The Unforgotten Scorns", which captured me immediately with its slow and heavy melody.

So, I asked in the beginning if the band delivers all their name and heraldry promise... if you didn't catch it from the review itself, the answer is a definite yes.