{"id":103062,"date":"2024-04-12T00:00:55","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T23:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=103062"},"modified":"2024-04-29T14:20:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T13:20:03","slug":"ep-review-sulphur-and-mercury-alchemia-prophetica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-sulphur-and-mercury-alchemia-prophetica\/","title":{"rendered":"SULPHUR AND MERCURY – Alchemia Prophetica EP (2024) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SULPHUR AND MERCURY
Alchemia Prophetica EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nTime To Kill (2024)<\/span>
Rating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I had not heard of Sulphur And Mercury before but couldn\u2019t help but be drawn to this EP via the cover art. I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect, I guess in my head I had some sort of stuffy mid-80s Euro metal weirdness, and at times that\u2019s what you\u2019ll receive but mostly you get served a batch of aggressive, thrashy songs led by the almost deathly snarls of vocalist and ex-Dying Fetus and current Misery Index man Jason Netherton.<\/p>\n

Somewhat of a strange journey then for the American to front this Rome-based outfit, but the result is certainly of interest. In fact, Netherton brings a John Tardy (Obituary) drool to proceedings as the band churns out a zipping brew of thrash and metal not quite fitting of the cover art. Even so, it\u2019s an enjoyable romp that is reasonably raw in its approach as guitarist Francesco Conte (Spiritual Front \/ Nero Omega), bassist Marco Mastrobuono (Hour Of Penance \/ Buffalo Grillz \/ Inno) and drummer Dario Casabona (Griefbringer \/ ex-Schizo) craft occult-tinged metal that begins with a John Carpenter-esque vibe intro (\u2018Presagio del Maligno\u2019) before \u2018Invoke The Adversary (Pugnali di Megiddo)\u2019 kicks in, bringing with it occult lyricism and an 80s metal feel without diving into the nostalgia, if that makes sense.<\/p>\n

There are hints of Mercyful Fate in certain parts of the axework throughout, and so the fusion with the deathlier nuances certainly makes for an intriguing listen and keeps the dynamic fresh. For added atmosphere \u2018Veneral Levitation (Voci dall\u2019aria)\u2019 begins with a spooky organ wheeze before a slow and sinister Slayer<\/a>-esque harmony strikes. This is the band at their most creative as they fuse barking vocals with meandering solos and catchy, mid-paced melody. It\u2019s as if Obituary created a demon child with Mercyful Fate.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lightless Slumber\u2019 begins with a fantastic traditional hook before the slurring vocals take over. It\u2019s the sort of marrying that shouldn\u2019t necessarily work, but it does in sublime fashion. Meanwhile, the cover rendition of Satan\u2019s \u2018Heads Will Roll\u2019 is awash with mesmeric soloing and those dehydrated gasps.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be surprised if your first few spins of this six-track debut EP doesn\u2019t quite allow you to settle, but sit with Sulphur And Mercury for a while and I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll appreciate its unorthodox contents.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SULPHUR AND MERCURYAlchemia Prophetica EP Time To Kill (2024)Rating: 7.5\/10 I had not heard of Sulphur And Mercury before but couldn\u2019t help but be drawn to this EP via the cover art. I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect, I guess in my head I had some sort of stuffy mid-80s Euro metal weirdness, and at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5668],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-sulphur-and-mercury"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103062"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103064,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103062\/revisions\/103064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}