I know most of the times I make a small introductory paragraph but I won't do it here. And you know why? Because when I stopped listening to this album I felt like a monster truck hit me! So enough with the intro crap, let's talk about the music and NEAERA!

These guys from Munster, Germany, formed the band back in 2003 under the name THE NINTH GATE as Tobias Buck's side project. Just after signing a contract with Metal Blade they changed their name to NEAERA (a character from Greek mythology, a woman who was sold into sexual slavery, being proscribed, oppressed and exploited all her life). From 2005 to 2007 they released three albums, one every year. Now, two years after their latest album Armamentarium, it was time for the quintet to give us their best(?) CD so far, Omnicide: Creation Unleashed.

It was about time to listen to a good melodic Death Metal album. The speeds are from mid tempo to quite fast, but the melodies are there and the album flows nicely. The band is really solid, something that it is natural since they are together from the start. I think it's useless to start writing about each member individually, since everybody is doing a great work. I will just mention that the work done on the guitars is very good since they don't stick with only one way of playing and you may listen to different themes and vocals from Benny since his grunts, barks, growls and shrieks gives the album that extra that every release needs. If you want one or two bands as a reference, I'd mention HEAVEN SHALL BURN and AMON AMARTH, at least as the melodies concerns.

Omnicide: Creation Unleashed may not be the album that will bring any changes to that genre; someone may say that it is a safe album structure-wise. But in the end it is an album that fans of melodic Death Metal will spend many hours with. Believe me, by the time I pressed the play button, it did stay in my CD player for quite a long time! And this is not something that is happening quite often. My favorite songs? I Loathe, Age Of Hunger, Omnicide and Prey To Anguish (I'm still mumbling that riff in the bridge).

Prey To Anguish