Review: Exomnia – Aftermath

In 2018, the melodic death metal band Exomnia was formed in the Greek city of Thessaloniki by guitarist Nick Chatzisavvoglou and bass player Giannis Panitsas. Later keyboardist Michael Chatzipnagiotou, guitarist Panagiotis S., drummer Dino George Stamoglou and vocalist Alex Mephisto Christanis joined to complete Exomnia’s line-up. Last year, in April, Exomnia released their debut EP, titled Aftermath.

When just looking at Aftermath‘s cover, it becomes clear that Exomnia probably is a band that creates music that, at least, has some epic aspects. That indeed is the case here. As soon as Aftermath starts with the intro of album opener Departure there already is a nice, epic vibe to be heard, that soon is joined by grooving, and sometimes very screeching, guitars, pounding drums, a slapping bass and deep grunts. That epicness can also be found in some details, such as the ringing bells, the melodic vocals that are at some moments joining the deep grunts, as well as the a bit more epic sounding, roaring guitars. However, the intro of the next track, Tragedy, is even more epic than its predecessor’s intro. This intro would also fit very well as a soundtrack for a film like Lord of the Rings.

Exomnia delivers a perfect combination of melody and heaviness on Aftermath. For its main part Aftermath pounds very heavily, at some times doing so in a melodic, but still quite heavy way, while Aftermath also includes parts that are pounding and grooving even more heavily with the melody part being a bit more hidden, such as towards the endings of Departure, in which we can also hear some electro-influences, and Tragedy.

The strongest power of this album is the use of the keys though. Those keys are mainly brought in a very subtle, but very fitting way, which surely makes them of much added worth. To get an example of this, be sure to listen to Despair, in which Michael Chatzipnagiotou also gets a short show moment with his keys towards the end.

In Aftermath‘s closer Ascension every part of Exomnia’s music comes together once more to end all this in an epic way. Ascension begins, again, in a very epic, LOTR-soundtrack-like, way, including epic drums and even an acoustic guitar, while later on melodic as well as tight, grooving electric guitar riffs, pounding drums, that same slapping bass and deep grunts are joining in, just as the huge added worth of those subtle keys. With Ascension Exomnia combines everything they have shown in their earlier tracks on this album in a masterly way and that’s why Ascension has become the most impressive song on Aftermath.

However, the other tracks are following rapidly in terms of how nice they are. With Aftermath Exomnia delivered a debut that sounds very promising for this band’s future!

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