APOCALYPTIC LEADERS - MACABRE

The one-man project from Greece has been around since 2017, however he decided to make 2020 its musical debut. Having released 4(!) EP's in the 2020 year, you could say that Kostas B (the mastermind behind Apocalyptic Leaders) has been very productive. However, 2021 is going to be the year that Apocalyptic Leaders is going to release its first full length 'Macabre'.

So the album starts off, like, immediately. It starts off at a very medium pace. The very deep voice gives a real weird soothing feeling to the black metal. That does however change quite quickly. Kostas lets out his high black metal screeches. One of the most 'stuck-in-your-head' moments, is the opening riff for 'The Doors Of Hell'. A very unique sounding piece of mid-paced black metal.

So far in the album, I find a lot of elements that tick the right boxes for me. Strong riffs are scattered all across 'Macabre'. However, there is one element in the whole mix that the drum machine is quite obvious. At least I think it is. Even if it is a drum machine or not, the sound could be a bit bothering. The drums sound very flat and not really mix well into the whole sound of the record. However the other instruments do make up a lot for the improvable drum sound. The usage of synths here and there do give 'Macabre' a bit more of an interesting layer.

The album certainly 'travels' through a lot of styles. Especially on the song 'Infinite Black' there are some moments that do remind me a lot of atmospheric black metal. I would say that 'Infinite Black' is my favourite song off the whole album. That sound out of all the sounds that Kostas is trying to show off, the atmospheric black metal sound suits him the best. The vocals and the synths do remind me a lot of the Coldworld 'Melancholie' type of atmospheric black metal.

All together, the album is a quite good black metal album however there are some things to improve. First thing is that I love to see this album recorded by a full band. The album would feel a lot more like an organic album rather than a CTRL C - CTRL V album which at some times does feel like. If Apocalyptic Leaders should make some more black metal, I would love to hear something like an atmospheric black metal project like he did on the song 'Infinite Black'.

If I would have to give 'Macabre' a grade between 1-10, it would be a 7. Something I myself would be proud of, however my parents will have to tell me to improve to get at least an 8.