Band: Requiem Laus
CD Title: Promo 2006
Year: 2006
Website: www.requiem-laus.com
MySpace: myspace.com/requiemlaus
Label: None
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks, Burning Misery and Metal Centre
Rating: 10 / 10
More Links: Please feel free to start a Requiem Laus thread on the Loucifer Speaks forum

I thought it was time to write a new review and, while I've got loads of albums that I'm meant to be reviewing at the moment, this promo by Requiem Laus caught my attention today. Requiem Laus hail from Portugal and produce music that can only be described as Melodic/Atmospheric Death/Black Metal. To give you an even better idea of what I’m talking about – if this band were to tour with the likes of Opeth, DesolatioN or even Katatonia then they definitely wouldn’t be out of place.

The promo opens with "Christ Above". I’ve listened to the promo several times in the past few hours and this track just seems to define Requiem Laus perfectly. The opening riff is insanely memorable and melodic and I love the way the track gradually builds up – this provides the band with a fantastic way to introduce new listeners to their sound. The deep Doom/Death-esque vocals compliment the driving melodies fantastically well. A weird thing is that I downloaded this promo several months ago (it is available from the Requiem Laus website as a free download), but it’s taken me until now to actually listen to it properly... And now I'm starting to regret that I didn't listen to it sooner. This is high quality stuff.

"Final Function" takes on a darker tone than "Christ Above" and there are some really interesting melodies in this track. I'm a big fan of music I can get lost in... and I can easily lose myself in some dark and forbidding landscape while listening to this track. It has numerous changes that keep me on my toes and it never becomes samey or boring.

"Perfect World" begins with a little sound clip that sounds like a radio, before launching into a nice chunky riff. I'd imagine that "Perfect World" would work incredibly well if they performed it live because it contains numerous 'headbangable' moments ('headbangable' is, quite possibly, a new word!). Yet again we are treated to those Death/Doom vocals that could quite easily shake the foundations of Hell, coupled with soaring melodies. If ever there was a time to get excited by a band – this is it.

Weighing in at 1 minute 6 seconds, "Maledictis" is the shortest track on this promo. It's completely instrumental and is amazingly relaxing. The track is relatively different from the others here, but it somehow manages not to feel out of place in any way.

The album closes with "Reflection Of God". The title of this track appears to tie in the theme of the first track "Christ Above" – but without knowing the lyrics at this point it's difficult to pour any more information into this assumption. The vocals on this take on a slightly more Black Metal character.

Requiem Laus definitely seem to know what they’re doing and I highly anticipate a full-length album from them. I'd also very much like to catch them live – and a little birdie tells me that there is a strong possibility for some UK gigs in the not-too-distant future.