Review written by Glenn “Terra Shredder” Van Bockstaele.

Caerus is a Dutch groove metal band that saw the light in 2016 and who recently won the Metal Battle at the PIT Podium in their hometown of Terneuzen. They’ve now release their independent debut album “The Morphing Eclipse.” After a short ambient opening monologue the bands kicks into high gear with “Antimatter” a hard pounding track with sharp guitar riffs, vicious drum beats and clean, high octane vocals, just like classic groove metal acts such as Machine Head or our country’s very own Channel Zero.

One song on “The Morning Eclipse” album that I dig a lot is the third track, “Black Forest.” A badass tune with catchy melodies, both operatic and raw vocal lines, powerful drum sounds and an epic guitar solo to top it all off! Same thing goes for the title track of “The Morphing Eclipse,” awesome stuff! One interesting thing is that all songs on Caerus (with the exception of the first two tracks) go well past the 5-minute mark but their variety in pacing and feel did keep me thoroughly interested in their material from start to finish. There are plenty of mesmerizing vocal parts, soaring guitar riffs and aggressive full-throttle sections that all smoothly transitions between one another as this album moves forward. And I’ve loved every second of it!

While Caerus only has a few years of existence under its belt, this album and their victory at the PIT Podium Metal Battle shows a ton of promise for this young band. And it’s not hard to see why either, Caerus showcases genuine competence and passion for the groove metal genre with lengthy but engaging and versatile songs that put raw power, swift finesse and catchiness all together into one sweet metal package that pretty much every headbanger will enjoy! Here’s the “Black Forest” track!

80/100