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Thy Great Expedition is the debut full-length from Brazil's Espera XIII, a band that plies the seas of melodic Black/Death Metal. They straddle the line between the two styles with some thrashy riffing offset with occasional tremolo-picked guitars, slow, pounding drums interspersed with faster, ultra-fast beats and vocals that slide sinuously back and forth between rasps and growls. I found the band to be much more interesting when they stuck to the Death/Thrash and tracks like "Insidious" and "Thy Great Expedition" remind me a little of Desaster. The attempts at a blacker sound don't work nearly as well and fail to create much atmosphere. Rather, they end up more like jumbled noise. For an independent release, the sound on Thy Great Expedition is quite good and when the band lets those riffs fly, stand aside or you will be swept under.

I would suggest more focus on Death Metal next time around but regardless, The Great Expedition is a decent debut.