Review written by Glenn “Terra Shredder” Van Bockstaele.

Thanatos (not to be confused with the Dutch death metal band of the same name) is the one-man technical death metal project from the young Canadian multi-instrumentalist Ian Waye, former guitarist of thrash metal act Albedo. His eponymous debut EP is an independent release provided to us by our Canadian friends at Asher Media Relations.

This 4-track release kicks off with “Call Of The Hellenistic Progenies” a 6m40s tune of competent death metal featuring the typical abrupt tempo switches, crisp and greasy grunts, several technical guitar solos and blast beats. It also adds in an acoustic guitar intro, a slow ambient middle part and even a couple of deathcore breakdowns. It all helps in making this track’s lengthy runtime varied and engaging. Next up is “Among The Throes Of Annihilation,” another multi-faceted song that smoothly passes the 6-minute mark and which has a more frantic and brutal atmosphere. It also features more breakdowns and an even bigger barrage of beautiful guitar work.

The EP’s third track “Prelude Of The Heretic” is a 9-minute instrumental that starts and ends with classical violin and cello and doing the usual technical death metal violence in between. And in this particular track Ian shows off some vicious drum work along the now familiar and still awesome guitar riffs, resulting in another long tune that kept me interested throughout. And finally there’s “Shores Of Styx,” one last tune featuring similar guttural vocals, drum frenzies and high-tech guitar riffs as you’ve already heard in the past three songs. Nothing more, but certainly nothing less!

Despite the muffled production, Ian Waye’s solo debut is certainly impressive, especially given the fact that he basically made this all by himself and on a likely very limited budget. While Ian has a solid voice and can play a good drum game (especially in the third track) it’s clear that his guitar skills are his main strength. The riffs and solos he unleashes throughout this EP are truly magnificent and it makes the EP stand out from the usual death metal stuff I’ve shredded in recent months. And while the EP’s length is short, the depth of the material presented here does encourage multiple listening sessions. Well recommended stuff for every death or extreme metalhead out there! Here’s the EP’s epic opener “Call Of The Hellenistic Progenies.”

80/100