Satevis

I like bands that don’t feel trapped by genre lines. Straight-up black metal, progressive metal and standard melodeath of course all have their places, but they get boring after a time. It’s way more interesting when bands take their favorite elements from a smattering of sub-genres and combine them in their own way, and that’s what New City, NY’s Satevis do with the aforementioned. It helps that they’re really talented musicians and writers and that they have a decent recording to showcase both of those things. I’d definitely peep these guys if they come down to the big city for a show. - Metalsucks.net

Once upon a time all those big name symphonic metal bands started off in their mom’s garage, and they probably sent a demo much like “Different Light” out to all the metal magazines. For only a debut three song demo, Antares has show an uncharacteristic amount of diversity and polish in their music. There are flaws to be sure, but the overall experience of “Different Light” is a satisfying one, especially with the promise on the horizon of greater heights yet to come.

Combining black and power metal has become more common in recent years, but it’s still a fairly rare style of music for a band to attempt. Antares pursues the blending of styles with wild abandon. Black metal vocals and menacing guitar segments are alternated with a melodic and frequently larger-than-life sound. A large portion of the vocal delivery is done with clean male singing that brings to mind epic folk tales of heroes performing great deeds in the face of unrelenting adversity. The mixing of genres also gives the band a chance to provide the best elements of both worlds while dropping the most common problems suffered by each. In a leap from standard black metal, the bassist can almost always be heard during the demo’s entire run time.

The title track sets the atmosphere of the album with a sound of constant drizzling rain and intermittent cracks of lightning. As images of dark clouds spreading across the horizon of a windy plain fill the listener’s mind, the keyboards and guitars come in at full force. While the synths are a little overbearing at first, coming off as just slightly too ‘80s oriented, they quickly settle into a steady rhythm that perfectly matches the guitar work. The vocals start off on the growling end and quickly become the feature of the song. They have a unique scratchy sound that is immediately identifiable, and the vocalist’s ever-changing range keeps the throaty rasps relevant and interesting. While they aren’t fully understandable, they are delivered with just enough clarity that large portions of the lyrics can be made out.

“Now That The Sky, And The Earth, And the Wind Are Silent” showcases both the highest and lowest points of Antares’ music. The song mixes acoustic and electric guitar in the opening moments for a stunning effect, before the vocalist gives what is easily his best clean singing on the demo. There’s a startling amount of passion and fervor in that passage, and it continues into the furious outbreak of growls that follow.

It’s not long after that when some of the kinks in the formula that haven’t been worked out yet become apparent. While the blast beats had been mostly left out in the first two songs, they suddenly show up in enough force to more than make up for their previous absence. Unfortunately that’s not a good thing, as they blast away in such a constant and unchanging rate that they become distracting. Rather than pondering the lyrics or enjoying the epic synth work the audience may find themselves wondering when the drums changed from rapid-fire insanity to an endless buzzing drone that just won’t stop. The distraction doesn’t ruin the song, but it definitely makes it less enjoyable than it could have been.

Another minor issue that dogs the demo from time to time is the disparity between the clean vocals and growls. While the vocalist is decent at the singing, he’s far better at the screaming. Obviously no one can expect a consistently perfect delivery of two distinctly different styles, but the difference in quality is large enough to be easily noticeable.

Those few missteps that occur are usually able to be forgiven or overlooked in light of the zeal the band members display in producing their ideal sound. Antares has shown with “Different Light” that they have an impressive knack for making more extreme metal work well with symphonic and melodic elements.

Highs: Epic synth work blends with guitars to give off stunning images of lightning shrouded landscapes.

Lows: Clean singing isn't as good as the growling, the drumming on the final track is distracting.

Bottom line: A promising debut demo that mixes epic elements reminiscient of power metal with the intensity of black metal.

- Metalunderground.com

7/10: Highly promising prog-death with a bit of symphonic black metal overtones in the mix as well, Antares – from NYC of all seemingly incongruous locales – offers a fine introductory carrot to us sophisticated metal donkeys. I can certainly trace more than a hint of influence from Emperor, Vintersorg, Borknagar, Into Eternity, German prog-nutters like Disillusion and Sieges Even, with a greater preponderance of keyboards (or maybe just a louder mix thereof) than any of them. At this stage in its career, paired with such lofty ambitions, Antares could easily fall flat on its ass, yet all three songs on offer hold up remarkably well, with a lively snare drum and crackling bass work to enhance the moody guitar passages. If the devil is in the details, and oh, it always is, it’s that the divergent elements don’t come together as fully as they should. The clean vocals are majestic and the death vocals convincingly gruff, yet don’t seem a part of the same band, much less the same song. The title track ends on a slow volume fade, while “Flowing Stream” comes to a jarring, almost accidental close. Only the final cut seems as fully realized as the band seems to hanker, but it, too, is hamstrung by occasionally confused instrumentation and songwriting transition. Still, there’s talent on hand, and the opportunity to become the five boroughs’ most cherished prospect since Grey Skies Fallen (and Alicia Keys) makes this a band to watch.
written by Matthew Kirshner - Tartareandesire.com