Idolatrous—Sorrow on Midgard (2023)

Details

Released on Friday 24 February 2023.

For fans of Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Insomnium

Band

Michael Priest—Vocals and guitars
Grady Pursel—Guitars
Ben Hansen—Bass
Eric (Red) Scherzinger—Drums

Tracks

Intro
Predecessor
The harrowing reprisal
Eternal
Chasing shadows
The wolf’s ghost
Asgard
Returning to war
Prophecy
Sorrow on Midgard
The smoke settles

Review

Sorrow on Midgard (2023) is the debut album from Portland Oregon-based melodic death metal band Idolatrous.

Before we dip into the music, the band’s biography is rather fun:

Battle-influenced aggressive melodic death-metallers, Idolatrous, were conjured under the grey skies of Portland, Oregon. Take a closer look into the heart of Idolatrous, and you’ll find yourself confronted by 1000 enemies. Revenge, war, betrayal, sacrifice, sorrow, and strength are the roots that bind this faction of seers. Imagined Norse atmospheres set the backdrop to this modern exposition of technical and melodic storytelling. Idolatrous weave tapestries of strife, and deliver harbingers of woeful bloodshed at the feet of false idols.

Judging by their discography, with this release and their previous Asgard EP (2013) a decade ago, they do seem to have a penchant for writing about Norse mythology.

There is something just wonderful about this release. I’m already a big fan of death metal in general, but this was marketed as ‘melodic death metal’ which made me wonder if it would stray too close to symphonic metal, most of which leaves me cold. I needn’t have worried, from the opening of “Intro” (track 1) to “The smoke settles” (track 10) this album took me on a journey. It’s like the soundtrack to the life you’d like to lead—dramatic, heroic… beautiful even.

Besides the usual fast-picked, heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars and bass, the aggressive drumming, the blast beats and atonality, there is a subtle backdrop of what I an only assume are keyboards padding out the chords, sounding like a demonic choir, it adds a melodic depth to the tracks.

Conclusion

This album has been another that I didn’t want to let go of. I put off reviewing it for a few days just so I could listen to it again and again and again…

I might go as far as saying that there is something almost soothing to this album—but perhaps that’s revealing more about my own psyche than the ‘lullaby’ nature of the music! But that’s how I feel when listening to this—calmed, soothed, entertained, led on a journey. The production lends itself to this, full of warm mids and deep bass tones. Then the riffs transport the listener on wave after wave of deeply overdriven riffs, underpinned by orchestral pedal notes.

Review score: 95%

Video

Disclosure

MDPR contacted me inviting me to preview Idolatrous’s latest album, thank you. I have no connections to either MDPR or Idolatrous. I’m not being paid to review this, but I did get a free digital copy of the album to review which is pretty cool. Many thanks to Zach from MDPR, and to Idolatrous for continuing to create fresh, exciting new melodic death metal.