Austria, a land of skiing and then you have Niko Apostolakis. A very talented man it would turn out to be as since 2010 he has been working on his project Until We Die, honing his skills as a vocalist, guitarist and mixing until he thought his work was good enough to release. That product is Before the Decay of Time and it’s nothing short but sweet melodic deathcore (or death metal, take your pick) in the veins of All Shall Perish and The Black Dahlia Murder. Both heavy hitters and influenced deathcore in many ways.

I knew about this album before it was coming out and Niko is actually someone I’ve followed closely. However for some reason I waited to review this album until now (I blame a long backlog!). If I haven’t this album would of been in my top 20 list of 2016 (second album I review now that should of been dammit). That also states how good of a 2016 we had in music though, tons of good albums came out. Funny thing about Until We Die is that one of the influences is Demon Souls, as a gamer I find that amusing and brutal (ask a gamer and they will know what I mean). Dying and honing your skills for countless hours in that game most of have giving Niko a lot of ideas in his song-writing and anger to let out through music.

One thing I need to say before I end this review is how great Niko’s vocals are. He uses many different styles of growling throughout the album and he even does it insanely fast at some tracks (Before the Decay of Time for example). He would make even Trevor Strnad proud. Take that together with some sweet melodies (can tell he is into classical music too), brutal deathcore and a good mix to pack it up and you got yourself an most have album.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/UntilWeDieBand

For fans of: All Shall Perish and The Black Dahlia Murder

Favorite song: Bereft of Life