Ophidius – “The Way of the Voice” [Album Review]

I have to admit, when I first saw the request for me to review Ophidius, an “instrumental technical death metal band”, I raised an eyebrow. Aren’t the vocals what makes a death metal band such? After a few listens of The Way of the Voice I’m going to say I stand corrected. There’s furious riffing, spectacular and thoughtful soloing. There’s blast beats and double bass galore and true to most death metal, I can’t hear the bassist. I’m just going to say it, this is one of my favorite death metal albums of the year and I’ve listened to a shit ton of death metal this year.

The Way of the Voice was written as a single cohesive piece of music according to Ophidius. Let me elaborate on this by saying this may be true, but it’s far from being monotonous or overbearing. There is great balance between every song and the way they’re strung together was done to perfection. My favorite track happens to be the finale, “The Way of the Voice”, and to steal a line from The Big Lebowski, it’s the rug that ties the room together.

I’m not sure if the mainstream metal crowd is ready to embrace Ophidius with horns o’ plenty at this point of their existence because of the niche genre they serve. The sub-genre culture of metal sometimes hurts bands more than it helps them because certain genres tend to get overlooked altogether. For Ophidius’ sake, it doesn’t hurt that they’ve opened up for the likes of Dying Fetus, Malignancy and others, but they’re going to need a push via word of mouth and positive reviews to receive the recognition they deserve. I’ve done my part…now give them a listen!

The Way of the Voice Track Listing:

01. Overture: 4E 201
02. The Calling
03. Seven Thousand Steps
04. Fo Sivaas
05. Sky Above, Voice Within
06. The Way of the Voice

Run Time: 39:22
Release Date: October 14, 2016

Check out the song “Seven Thousand Steps”