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The Immortal Wars is the third album from the Roman-themed Ex Deo and like its predecessor, 2012's Caligvla, it is a pounding mass of epic, melodic Death Metal. Ex Deo does a superb job giving their chosen lyrical inspiration the appropriate sense of grandeur and you can almost see the columns of legionnaires passing by or the crowds screaming for the life or death of a competitor in the Colosseum. If anything, The Immortal Wars ups the "epic" feel with more prevalent keys and sound effects one might expect to hear on the Italian peninsula 2000 years ago. The songwriting isn't quite as good as on the previous album, which featured the memorable title track, and it all blends together with the exception of "Suavetaurilia (Intermezzo)", an instrumental track that very effectively breaks the album into two halves. The Immortal Wars needed a couple of catchy choruses to take it to the next level but there's plenty of head banging to spare even without them.