Even wonder what Immortal and Opeth on the same record would sound like? On February 24th in association with Dewar PR Philadelphia’s Malphas bring forth on their debut EP The Conjuring a cross breed, misanthropic blend of prog, black metal, death and symphonic elements that cross multiple underground genres from cult rock to the classical, symphonic keys of old-new school Dimmu Borgir. It’s black metal with a twist, kind of like if Chuck Berry or Elvis played evil, dark, sad stuff.
Conjured in 2012 by Paul DeSanctis and Eric Dunleavy, accompanied by Dave Guglielmi and Damian DiFrancesco, heavily influenced by the Scandinavian metal scene, their sound is derived from a healthy mixture of melodic death, black, and power metal with additional nods to prog and jazz.
Their lyrics are conceptually written revolving around Malphas, the 39th Goetic spirit in demonology who serves as the grand president and general of hell; commanding forty legions of demons and appearing before conjurers in the form of a crow.
The five song EP title track opener starts off with cathedral organs opening the ceremony as the wicked and the damned assemble. With a certain cult rock feel from the 60’s and 70’s, there’s less reliance on symphony and orchestra giving way to a power metal vibe saying, corpse paint isn’t needed to make our point.
“Shrouds of the Truth” starts with a spell casting riff with lots of Iron Maiden history in the guitars, Dimmu Borgir in the keys, ending with some heavy thrash. “Legions”, the tanks hit full throttle thrash as guitars dance around the battle field throwing out killer notes. “Visions of the Burning Darkness” bring images of vintage Dimmu with ‘conjuring’s’ of “Mourning Palace”. “Heavens Fall” has piano riffs mixed into the caldron with Cradle of Filth and Dimmu.
The Conjuring is an interesting mix of thrash and not quite full on black metal but has enough influence and variety to hold the stage at any multi-styled metal show.
