Following the release of their monumental second full-length album,
“Incendiary,” in 2010, Ares Kingdom took a well-deserved break from
recording new material in order to pay homage to some of their primary
musical inspirations with the 2013 release of “Veneration,” a collection
of various cover songs from the likes Slaughter Lord, R.U. Dead,
Sacrilege, Mefisto, and others. The recording of “Veneration” was also
seen by the band as an opportunity to experiment with different
recording techniques that had not been previously implemented on their
earlier original recordings. With an evolved sound that resulted from
these sessions, Ares Kingdom then refocused their attention on the
writing, rehearsing, and recording of new original material, which has
now culminated in their third full-length offering, “The Unburiable
Dead,” an album which confirms that the best musical product results
from patient and diligent attention to detail.
With much of its musical pedigree having originated and developed from
its members’ direct and indirect connections to the legendary Order From
Chaos, Ares Kingdom has once again demonstrated its uncanny ability to
successfully intertwine exceptional songwriting and musicianship with
superior thematic and lyrical content. As with their prior releases,
the seven tracks on “The Unburiable Dead” are relentless, scorching
examples of metal fire and blood influenced not singularly from one, but
instead from several sub-categories of black/death/thrash metal.
Thematically, the lyrics examine and reflect the world-shattering
conflagration of the Great War for Civilisation (1914-1918) in brutally
stark and agonizing, but equally artful terms. With the opening track,
“Ubique” (Latin for “everywhere” and the motto of Britain’s Royal
Artillery), the album traces the origins of the war before moving on to
reflect the naïve optimism of the war’s early combatants with “Nom de
Guerre” and the breakdown of the original ‘war of movement’ into the
deadly stalemate and attrition of fortifications and trenches with
“Salient and Redoubt.” The fourth track, “Demoralize,” reflects the
waste and futility endured by both sides, which is followed by “Writhe:
Fettered to a Corpse,” the album’s lone instrumental track with its
title derived from a Hindenburg-attributed quote. The final two tracks,
“The Unburiable Dead” and “Stultifera Navis (Armistice and League),”
recount the final stages of the war, first from the soldier’s entrenched
point of view as it lurches to an end, and then with the outbreak of
joy and relief on the homefront upon its conclusion, which was
ironically followed by the disastrous peace process that ensued.