Chaostar: Anomima (Season of Mist, 5/28/13)
“Truth Will Prevail”
Opera and experimentation come together in Chaostar, a project whose impetus was Septicflesh guitarist Christos Antoniou’s desire to use a more “classical approach.” With his background in composition, the group released four orchestral albums before a hiatus in 2008. Returning, it started work on an operatic concept album built around the myth of Medea. Though it has since evolved, Anomima has kept that scope intact.
In just one more trip around the sun, another swarm of immensely talented but under-recognized musicians has harnessed its collective talents and discharged its creations into the void. This list is but one fraction of those dedicated individuals who caught our ears with some serious jams.
Every Friday, The Metal Examiner delves metal’s endless depths to present the genre’s most important and exciting albums.
Septicflesh: The Great Mass (Season of Mist, 4/18/11)
Septicflesh: “The Vampire from Nazareth”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Septicflesh-The-Vampire-from-Nazareth.mp3|titles=Septicflesh: “The Vampire from Nazareth”]Metal bands have long employed classical composition techniques. Celtic Frost introduced To Mega Therion in 1985 with a Strauss-ian melody played by a French horn. Morbid Angel cited Mozart as the greatest composer of all time on its sophomore album. Ritchie Blackmore laced his leads for proto-metal band Deep Purple with classical arpeggios.
Continuing in this tradition, Septicflesh‘s guitarist Christos Antoniou recently completed studies in classical composition. As such, the band’s seventh full-length, The Great Mass, is rich in orchestration, handled by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.