My 100 Favorite Metal Bands Pt. 7: Apophis

Apophis is a German melodic death metal band that sounds a lot like Amon Amarth. They have the same catchy, heavy riffing style and deep guttural roars. Their music is infectious as hell, it's a shame that so few people have heard of them. I have discussed this band several times here, and I know I have turned on at least one person to them.

FAVORITE ALBUM: HELIOPOLIS

Underrated Death Metal Albums Pt. 1 of 2

This is the series I hinted at last week. I went through my collection and pulled ten albums from the five major subgenres in metal: power, doom, black, thrash, and death metal. Each of these albums does not receive the attention that I feel they deserve. Some of them may be fairly well-known in underground metal circles, but I tried to avoid even that. These are albums that I love that I do not think enough people have heard. Some of these have been mentioned before on my blog. If you like the descriptions, please check these bands out. It has always been my goal on this blog to turn people on to new metal music.

I want to start with death metal, because this is the genre that I first thought of.

APOPHIS: HELIOPOLIS
Every bit as melodic and brutal as Amon Amarth, Apophis's lyrical focus is mostly on Egyptian themes, on this album anyway. They are not too narrow. This album features some amazing riffwork, incredible solos, and catchy songs. The only problem, and it is a very small problem, is that the vocals are pretty much the same all the way through. But, these vocals really match the music. This album by the German band is the first death metal album I heard that the thought came to me that other people should be listening to this band.

THORNAFIRE: EXACERBATED GNOSTIC MANIFESTATION
Chile's Thornafire take old-school death metal influences like Death, Incantation, Immolation, and Morbid Angel, and put a modern spin on them. Twisted and murky riffs abound throughout the album. This is one dark and forbidding-sounding death metal album. It's true occult death metal in the vein of the early masters listed above. Their follow-up was not quite as good, but this was one incredible album.

CENOTAPH: SAGA BELICA
Cenotaph may have been one of the first melodic death metal bands, playing stuff in Mexico that bands like At the Gates would play later on. However, on this album, the band has streamlined their approach. This is just a purely angry and aggressive album with some of the most psychotic-sounding vocals I have ever heard. The word "rabid" comes to mind most frequently upon hearing these vocals. The music is incredibly infectious, but those vocals steal the show.

VOMITORY: REDEMPTION
Somehow lost in the Swedish death metal scene is the band that is probably the most consistent. Grave, Dismember, and Entombed have all released some subpar albums, but Vomitory never has. Continually brutal and unrelenting, this is the band's best album in my opinion. It features some truly brutal and dark moments, but retains the ability to keep listeners coming back for more time after time. Yes, it features the typical guitar sound for the scene.

YYRKOON: OCCULT MEDICINE
France has produced some truly great metal albums, with groups like Deathspell Omega, Gojira, and more. Yyrkoon is another example of a quirky band from the country. The band started out as a thrash metal band, but then by this album was completely death metal. This is one of the catchier death metal albums I have heard and it is a concept album about H.P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator.

Blind Buy Surprise Album Pt. 1: Apophis: Heliopolis

This is the first part of a series on albums that I picked up as throw-ins to a larger purchase, picked up because the album cover was cool, or came across in some other way that have become personal favorites. These are albums I was not expecting much from but that have blown me away.

I bought this album along with four other albums off of an ebay seller. Each album cost a little more than $1.00. The other four bands were bands that I was at least somewhat familiar with: Dismember, Ancient, Domine, and Gardenian. I threw this one in just because of the extremely low cost. It became my favorite album of the group.

Apophis is a German death metal band with some heavy melodic touches. Essentially, they sound like Amon Amarth if the band was obsessed with Egyptian mythology, not Vikings. The band features some incredibly solid, melodic riffs grounded in death metal with frequent guitar solos. The vocals are very deep and growled. The production is murky, but not so bad that one cannot hear the music, it is just enough to sound dark.

I listen to this album fairly frequently and it never fails to grab my attention and get my blood pumping. This is how melodic death metal should sound. I picked up one of the band's other albums after this, and while featuring many of the same qualities as this, it does not leave quite as strong of an impression. This is a great, underrated album. And it should be able to be found cheap.

Apophis: I am Your Blindness Review

This is a very short six song album. Apophis plays a sort of melodic death metal that is far closer to real death metal than the Gothenburg scene. They meld influences from early 1990's Swedish death metal and mid 1980's German thrash into a sound that is raw, powerful, and aggressive, but that is still incredibly infectious and catchy. The band is unknown for the most part and incredibly underrated. There are not many bands out there that can match the combination of power and infectiousness that Apophis reaches. It's unfortunate because this band is having record label troubles, which is why this release from 2005 is their last one to date. This band deserves to be heard.

The first track is kind of a throwaway symphonic intro track but it builds into the powerful opening riff of "Choirs of Bitterness". And just like that, the intensity never wavers the rest of the way through the album. The riffs come crashing in along with the blasting drums and the gruff death metal vocals.

The music is heavy, yet melodic at the same time with lead guitar lines weaving in and out of the crashing drum and bass rhythms. Guitar solos shine through in darker moments in the music and add even more melodic touches. There are very occasional uses of keyboards to add an additional flourish near the end of songs or when the moment calls for it.

The vocals retain their gruffness throughout the album, with the exception of some spoken lines in German in “Extinct Life” going back and forth with the main vocals. They are occasionally layered at points where the band wants a little extra emphasis. Once in awhile, the vocalists speaks, using the same vocal style, giving the moment a little extra demonic push. The vocals do get a little redundant over time, but this is not a problem on such a short album.

“Welcome to My World” is the highlight of the album with melodic guitar lines played over the top of blast beats from the drummer in several places throughout the song which are incredibly infectious. The guitar solo blazes near the end of the song leading into a final breakdown before the fadeaway.

“That’s Why I’ve Killed You” is another highlight. It starts out a little slower but after the first couple of verses kicks up the tempo and rolls through the rest of the song with a groove that Pantera would be jealous of.

Apophis possesses an amazing ability to write a truly catchy death metal song. Bands with that ability should be more popular. This is a very good, short melodic death metal album and it is highly recommended to anyone interested in melody but still wanting death metal.