From the north-east of the Netherlands there is a band that listens to the name of Downfall Of The Empires. They make melodic death metal with influences of metalcore and hardcore punk. This 4-song EP is their 2nd release. This is their second release and it is from 2011.

 

Starting with the first song Awake The Eclipse. The first 14 seconds start off with some kind of speech which morphs into a strong and almost slamming death metal style. You notice that the metalcore is strong in Awake The Eclipse. But it is not the daily metal that you hear from Downfall of the Empires. It is a mix of many genres which works out pretty good.

 

The next one is called 'What Has Become Of Us' and this song reminds me of a Killswitch Engage type of music mixed with While She Sleeps. The harmonics sound like they came straight out of a Machine Head record and the chorus is like one of the newer Killswitch Engage/Trivium records.

 

The second to last is 'Burning in our Wake'. This song is more death metal than the other songs on this EP. It is not the death metal that I prefer but it is more the modern death metal (Children Of Bodom/Arch Enemy).. With a heavy breakdown and fast riffing and the combination of death metal with metalcore makes this my favourite song of the EP.

 

The final song is the titeltrack of the album 'Sede Vacante'. Immediately starting with brutal death metal style drumming and riffing. It is a continuing song of sick riffs and it reminds me of the band State of Negation which have similar song-writing styles. Sadly this song ends the EP and I cannot wait to hear more from these guys.

 

It is a style that I like to hear but Downfall Of The Empires must not get caught in the big mass, they need to have something where they could separate themselves from the mass.