It would be an understatement to say Dante's Inferno has played a part in inspiring metal music and musicians, its poetic tale of mortality and suffering and the intense descriptions of hell are of course very Metal. IN AVEUM AGERE's third full length Emperor of Hell joins the ranks of the influenced, their epic brand of Doom Metal weaving the tapestry of musical wretchedness.

Opening with a crushing burst of heaviness, the first bars of "Emperor of Hell" explode with earth quaking drums and suffocating guitar tones. The 16^th note double bass driving the song with intense urgency whilst the halftime snare hits set the headbanging pace. The vocals come in and I expected screaming but was pleasantly surprised by the commanding, clean baritone voice. The mid-section features a very groovy swung double bass pattern beat, its proggy whilst feeling laid back and spontaneous, and is followed by a very solid guitar solo.

Track 3, "The City of Dis" opens with a more chaotic, fill heavy intro, syncopated crash hits adding density to the repeated guitar line and drums.  The riffs in this song are chuggy and, whilst more simplistic, much harder hitting, the less is more approach is taken for the most part but plenty of blistering solos join the chugging repeated guitar line for some added spice.  The vocals are nice and laid back, feels more like a conversation being had as opposed to someone singing at you. At the halfway mark the musical intensity is upped as the chugging gets faster and the double bass dominates the mix, contrasting to this is the vocals going full spoken word, there's a clear sense of a story being told.

"Chiron" sounds like a metal classic, deceptively simple drums with some fantastic guitar work throughout and vocalist Bruno flexing his ability in powerful uplifting vocals.  The song retains the same pattern for the most part, differing only to deliver some breakneck double bass work and guitar soloing throughout. The constant running drums give a nice driving rhythm.

The album ends with "The Straight Path Was Lost" where we see the band truly demonstrate the Epic in Epic Doom Metal, with the guitars feeling like one long solo, the drums being slow ad heavy hitting and the finest vocal delivery yet, aided in part due to the excellent overlapping vocal tracks.

An excellent release, hitting all the key notes of Doom Metal with some added flair. Production is great, the whole album sounding polished but still natural. The adaptation of the source material is great, fantastical lyrics that are aided by grand sounding instrumentation.  IN AEVUM AGERE have done a wonderful job with their third full length release.