Year : 2026 (M-Theory Audio Records Edition)
Style : Power Metal
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + front
Size : 97 mb
Bio:
ANUBIS is a new rising force in the Los Angeles metal scene. Featuring veterans of local Los Angeles bands as well as international/touring bands, ANUBIS combines the speed and aggression of thrash metal bands like MEGADETH, HAVOK, and TESTAMENT with the twin guitar attack of and soaring vocal of melodic metal like HELLOWEEN, BEAST IN BLACK, and IRON MAIDEN. After releasing their debut EP "Ashes" in late 2019, Anubis has released eight EPs and singles, and played alongside such legendary bands as HAMMERFALL, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, RAVEN, and many more.
Album:
Hot on the heels of the striking debut Dark Paradise, as well as a similarly powerful EP (The Puppeteers) released shortly after, Los Angeles' own Anubis are now on their second full-length. As much as their release pace might make them look like an unstoppable and relentless recording machine, this new Anthromorphicide actually came after a significant lineup revamp, now featuring six members – with just three remaining from the previous album – and even recruiting an additional vocalist in Hanna Preston, sharing duties with mastermind Devin Reiche.As such, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that we're dealing with a different beast this time. Anthromorphicide is generally a darker album than, well, one with that adjective in its title. The artwork is a clear hint, and you can take the opener 'Nuclear Dawn' and the title track as further examples, as in both cases the vocal hooks are less immediate, and instead let the lead guitars take the spotlight. This is especially true of the former, whose solo takes up half of the song's playing time and goes through approximately a dozen tempo changes. 'Ancient at Birth' is the only track with a keyboard solo, much like 'Thy Frozen Throne' back then, but whereas that one was a flowery, sugary Europower-esque number – highly gimmicky perhaps, but just as fun – this one is once again more ferocious fare, even with some lugubrious bell tolls punctuating its main riff. While Anubis did flirt with growled vocals in the past, as 'Devour' easily showcases, the addition of Preston ups the ante in this regard, and she's quite impressive at that.Regarding 'Ancient at Birth', I also appreciated its final chorus being sung an octave lower instead of higher, which is a refreshing choice. In keeping with these bold moves, not placing it as the album's closer is also peculiar. This one, though, doesn't make a lot of sense. Granted, it might be that, by now, we're used to finding a slower, longer, and more epic song as the final one; but, come on, its (memorable) chorus even reprises a line from the opener ('This dawn must bring a day of reckoning', from the pre-chorus)! Instead, there's still 'Battalion', which is the kind of song that would perfectly fit in the middle of the tracklist – short, energetic, with nothing wrong per se, but also a less remarkable ending for the album.To clarify, it's not that Anubis have suddenly turned into Nevermore, or that they've lost their innate knack for blending riffy, breakneck thrash with singalong-y power. You can clearly hear it in the one-two punch of 'Celestial' and 'Arcanist' (especially the latter, with a neat 'Strife'-like refrain), or later in 'Reptile Eyes', and it's still a blend that isn't attempted very often, let alone nailed as well as they do. The consistency is once again enviable, but Anthromorphicide allows itself a couple of deviations towards both ends. On one side, 'Fanged Angel' borders on death metal, almost entirely carried by Preston's growls – a scorcher I'd nonetheless have appreciated more if it came from a different band – while on the other there's 'The Fire Inside', a sappy half-ballad that might bring to mind Dragonforce's softest moments. It's... bound to be polarizing, that's for sure. Many will flat out hate it, and its early placement does the album no great favours (not unlike 'Meant to Be' on the latest Testament), while I'm just left puzzled by its ending, with an ill-fitting heavier second chorus and an... a cappella coda. Traumatic.There's another issue which, to be completely honest, was already present on Dark Paradise – although the sheer infectiousness of the vocal parts more than made up for it – and that is Reiche's tendency to layer himself multiple times almost constantly, which can get tiring and, especially in the case of 'The Fire Inside', frustrating. It's almost as if I had trouble identifying a melodic line to follow, because there are two or three competing with each other, for a rather chaotic effect. What's more, now there's also a layer of growls in the background, often, and guest vocalist Zhariah falls victim to the same sin in the lone episode with female clean vocals ('My Favourite Cage' – not a cover of The Cardigans, if you were wondering).I'm sure this will be the toughest review of the whole year for me, simply because I still don't quite know what to make of Anthromorphicide. My initial impression told me that Anubis themselves were convinced that Dark Paradise was just an unrepeatable, once-in-a-lifetime fluke, and so they just took another path altogether. On the other hand, this is clearly the sound of a band branching out and expanding their boundaries, and don't we all love that? Okay, wrong question. I do, though. Somebody on YouTube commented below 'Fanged Angel' (chosen as one of the advance singles, to reaffirm their rationale), regretting that the band had now lost its uniqueness, but when you stop to think about it, they've actually added more elements to their sound, and it's been a logical evolution overall. True, it didn't grip me as tightly as Dark Paradise did, but in hindsight I was setting myself up for disappointment on this front. For better or worse, I've been humming almost all the songs here in the past month or so, so by all means that's a win in my book. Now I'm even more curious to see where they'll go from here.
Line-Up:
Hanna Preston - Vocals (2025-present)
Devin Reiche - Bass (2018-2020), Vocals (2018-present) - see also: Hatchet, ex-Ancient at Birth, ex-Stagewreck
Ulises Hernandez - Guitars (lead) (2025-present) - See also: NovaReign, ex-Judicator, ex-Our Dying World
Justin Escamilla - Guitars (2020-2024, 2025-present) - See also: ex-Tower Guard
Will Buckley - Bass - See also: Ravenmocker, ex-Hydera, ex-Mortified, ex-Deception
David Velez - Drums (2025-present) - See also: ex-Witherfall (live)
Tracklist:
01. Nuclear Dawn 04:02
02. Celestial 03:42
03. Arcanist 03:12
04. The Fire Inside 07:02
05. Anthromorphicide 04:20
06. Reptile Eyes 03:36
07. Fanged Angel 03:07
08. My Favorite Cage 03:27
09. Ancient at Birth 05:37
10. Battalion 03:33
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