Mother Nature & Father Time

-- Instriumae --

30/11/2021
Stijn Daneels

Album genres:
Symphonic rock
alternative rock
Album artists:
Marty Drums, percussion
Franki Guitars, bass
N'lie Violin

Review written by Stijn "Metal Shredder" Daneels.

[METAL SHREDDER REPORTING]

We were recently personally contacted by Instriumae’s guitarist/bassist Franki to check out his band and their first EP. He was even kind enough to send us a limited edition physical copy of this debut release. That’s all, time to shred!

[SHREDDING BASICS]

“Tempus Volat” is the debut EP from the Belgian instrumental symphonic rock band Instriumae and released via the Belgian label Meuse Music Records.

The EP begins with its title track, "Tempus Volat" opens with chiming bells, organs & sounds of footsteps and then transitions to a menacing guitar riff with tragic sounding violin melodies before getting faster and more aggressive with heavy guitars, pounding drums and the violin also speeding up to a frantic pace. Eventually comes a sweetly jamming guitar solo and then all instruments come together for a war-marching final part. Quite an interesting opener overall.

Then comes "Spes Bona" which ventures into the spotlight with an epic opening of roaring guitars and violins and then smashes further with an energetic tune that reminds me of power metal. Next up come the more relaxed tunes of "Lex Naturae" that nicely jam along albeit with a rather abrupt ending and then the galloping Iron Maiden like beats of "Ab Initio" end the release with a solid finale.

One of the things I love the most about Instriumae's sound is the creative use of guitar and violin. They both function as sort of the band's "vocalists" and throughout the EP they both take turns in providing the "lyrics" to the songs. Other than that, the band employs a mix of symphonic, progressive, ambient and old-school metal which works quite effectively thanks to the great musical chemistry. And finally I've always been a sucker for instrumental metal since it gives me the freedom to interpret the music myself, which I'll be doing in the next chapter of this review.

[SHREDDING VISION]

A nice shot of the band chilling and posing for the camera while standing at the windows of some castle or church (to the band, feel free to tell me what castle or church this is and I’ll add it here). The EP’s songs titles are in Latin and are dealing with topics like time, hope and nature, at least what the translations of the songs’ titles are concerned (thank you Google Translate). Of course, this is instrumental stuff so feel free to insert your own interpretations about the songs.

As for me, I believe the songs are about the passage of time and the changes in nature. Both time & nature can be peacefully beautiful or mercilessly brutal and that, in my opinion, is represented in the songs on this first Instriumae EP.

[SHARPEST SHREDS & BLUNTEST BLADES]

I'll take the title track. "Tempus Volat" is a beautifully made multi-faceted tune that, more than the three other tracks, showcases Instriumae as a flexible band that smoothly transitions between soft ambience and hard-hitting metal. Also the raw power of "Spes Bona" was very enjoyable.

The EP's weakest track for me is "Lex Naturae." It's a nice chilled song but felt more like an intermission track to fill in between the 3 other songs, each of which breathe more power and atmosphere than "Lex Naturae."

[SHREDDER’S SCORECARD]

7,5 time bells out of 10. A short but engaging, atmospheric and well-made debut. Instriumae's first EP is an operatic instrumental release that I definitely recommend if you enjoy such acts like Apocalyptica.