"Never judge a book by its cover," or so the famous saying goes. But all you have to do is take a gander at the apocalyptic doodle on the cover of the 2007 release by
Paths of Possession,
The End of the Hour, and you know what kind of music the band specializes in -- chugging thrash metal of the '80s vintage, blastbeat drumming, and dragon-like growling in place of singing. And you can also add to this checklist something that's becoming a seeming pre-requisite for most metal bands issuing albums in the early 21st century: guitar harmonies straight out of the Dave Murray/
Adrian Smith edition of the
Iron Maiden musical handbook. Tracks such as "In Offering of Spite" have been penned countless times over by others since the dawn of extreme metal, but the album opener, "Memory Burn," is a good example of all the aforementioned musical ingredients falling into place for
Paths of Possession. ~ Greg Prato