The Titan Chronicles Part II: Lucius is the first full-length album of the Belgian metal band, Artefacts. I can add to this further description of this sextet as performing ‘a cinematic and epic movie metal, with a touch of symphonic, black, death and progressive epic metal’. This epic & movie score is successfully fused with thundering guitars, blistering drums, haunting screams, bombastic and symphonic orchestration, with a touch of typical black metal darkness, while adding a progressive touch along the way.

Line-up of the band as follows: Siegfried Mercelis (keyboards, song-writer, composer…), Niklaas Reinhold (vocals & choir), Gert Sergeant (drums), Tom Everaert (bass & choir), Tom Leemans (guitars & choir) and Erik Vanhauwaert (guitars). In addition to these six musicians, many guest-appearances participated in creation of this lengthy and demanding nine-tracker album.

Track list:

1. Prologue: Gods and mortals

2. Nephereth

3. The Tower of Irth-Anshar

4. Dragonfall

5. Interlude: Her Brine Embrace

6. The Path of No Return

7. Augur the Age of Darkness

8. Corruption (Glory for the Fall)

9. Epilogue: For the Dead and the Undying

Lyrically, sonically and visually (see video below), the mission of the band is to present a narrative that takes place in a world that speaks to the imagination while dealing with relatable and common everyday issues such as love, death (loss in general) and treachery. In other words, this (first) part of trilogy takes the listener (and reader) on a voyage through space and time. I in particulary enjoyed the relatively often inclusion of the backing female choirs. It helps in creation of this haunting atmopshere, while simultaneously keeping things more interesting with numerous musical twists and turns, both when it comes to the pace and variation.

The whole production, sound, moods and atmospheres is well-developed and perfectly executed, and appears to be planned to even the small details. The same goes for the cover art, which I find to be very representative of the band’s sound on this debut opus.

As the first in a set of three records, The Titan Chronicles Part II: Lucius, named after the anti-hero protagonist, aims to please the most demanding metal audience. This is definitely one of the albums that should be a satisfying experience for the greater majority of people with an interest for the symphonic & extreme metal sound. It will appeal especially to the likes of fans who like Cradle of Filth, Septicflesh, Dimmu Borgir, Therion and similar acts.

Further information on this breathtaking debut release, from this majestic and bombastic gathering of the first class musicians from Belgium, can be found on their bandcamp.