Review: Kerberos – Of Mayhem and Dismay

Style: Symphonic Death metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Haggard
Review by: Zach
Country: Switzerland
Release date: 16 September, 2022

I like to classify the fans of metal into two subcategories. There are probably way more, but for the sake of brevity, I’m going to talk about just two. Those who say symphonic metal sucks, and those who treat it like any other subgenre.. When I first got into metal, there seemed to be this prevailing opinion that anything symphonic was to be avoided like the plague; but I quickly figured out this was an ass-backwards way of saying, “I don’t like power metal”, so I’ll re-name this first subcategory “the cowards”.

Wilderun, Aquilus, Septicflesh, Fleshgod, Haggard, Gorgon, Inferi, the list of amazing symphonic bands is fucking endless. I’m talking bands that don’t use strings as a backdrop to hide lame riffs, but bands that push theatricality and experiment with a symphony that takes turns driving the song rather than letting the guitars do the work. How can anyone say all symphonic metal sucks when songs like Moonsorrow exist? So, I’ll gladly take up any symphonic band that I can, and I’ve found some real gems from the debut works of emerging bands. Surely, Kerberos has been set up for success from the guy who gives everything like this an 8 and up?

Hoo boy, I could feel it with that first track. The way it builds into swaying strings and woodwinds with that slow snare roll. The guitars crash in with such raw fury and then…. Well, then comes the clean vocals. My fellow Subway conductor Christopher said the exact same thing when he slid this across my desk. “I don’t know what to make of this”, was his exact wording, which coincidentally, were my thoughts too for the first few listens. But turning a web of random thoughts into a cohesive review is all a part of my job.

Let’s start with the most glaring flaw first. Ai-lan Metzger, the band’s female clean vocalist, has a fine voice on her own, but the way she just stumbles into the first track after the buildup ruins all momentum and made me scratch my head. To me, her performance is trying to balance Tarja Turunen’s operatic grace and Brittney Slayes’s aggression and power. Which is quite the undertaking on its own, considering the two women listed above aren’t even in the same league as most vocalists. Metzger sounds like she’s belting every single note out and straining to the very top of her range, leading so many moments to fall flat within the first song alone.

Clean vocals aside, Epigone this is not. This may have been innovative 20 years ago, but now its probably going to be lost amongst the many, many, many symphonic albums that come out every year. The reason Septicflesh can still find new ways to impress nearly 15 years after Communion is they keep innovating. Wilderun keeps experimenting and Aquilus is basically writing an entire film score. To stand out as a symphonic album in 2022, you need to do something beyond adding strings to your death metal. It’s the same problem I spoke about in my Humaniac review.

However, I can’t say I’m going to be too harsh on Kerberos. After all, this is their very first full-length and they still have plenty of time to grow as a band. But their first bit of work to iron out, even before the vocals are concerned, is the pacing. This album could be a whole 10 minutes shorter and become more replayable and enjoyable to listen to in the process. There’s no reason ‘Midsummernight’s Scream’, hilarious pun aside, needs to be 10 minutes long. In fact, most of the songs could be about 2-3 minutes shorter and cut nothing out of the 52-minute run time. I’d rather have a band keep me asking for more than overstaying their welcome. There’s just too much filler symphonies and riffs that go absolutely nowhere.

Felicien Burkard is clearly a competent guitar player and composer, as he wrote all but one of the tracks, but symphonic metal is only as strong as the riffs that come with it. Fleshgod Apocalypse have a million crazy riffs that they pull out every song, yet here it just seems like the same variations of the same three or four riffs changed up. I decided to look up Burkard’s other band, Uncaved, a clearly Death inspired group with some fairly solid riffs. If Burkard took the Chuck influence and stuck it in Kerberos, I feel that we’d be seeing a very different (but extremely cool) band on our hands.

I don’t know why I expected more from this band, but I leave this review a little disappointed. There’s some songwriting talent here, enough to make and record a whole album with an actual choir, but there’s nothing that stuck with me after so many listens. I want nothing but success for Kerberos in the future, but I feel like they have a long way to go before making something that’ll wow me. Still, I don’t want them to be discouraged by this. If anything, I want them to come back in a few years and blow me the hell away.

Recommended tracks: Resurrection of the Sun, One-Dimensional Sight
You may also like: Wilderun, Sentire
Final verdict: 5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Independent

Kerberos is:
– Felicien Burkard (Guitars, bass, vocals)
– Nicolas Kaser (Drums)
– Ai-lan Metzger (Vocals)
– member 4 (drums)
– member 5 (keyboard)