Metal has been a ruin since 1994, but a handful of acts show that there is some life in the corpse, and Solips from Asgrauw shows great promise with its melodic high energy black metal.

Riffs take inspiration from not only early Graveland but early Necrophobic and Sacramentum, showing a talent for writing melody lines that become expansive over time and counterpoint the stirring rage of the rhythmic patterning.

Songs feel more like death metal in composition, in that they rage through a series of alterations to a verse-chorus structure in order to drop the listener back into an early riff so that it feels completely alien and new.

Tags: asgrauw, Black Metal, Melodic Death Metal