Review by Adam M on December 25, 2016.

Mithras crafts a storm of death metal fury on On Strange Loops. The band borrows from the Morbid Angel playbook to craft twisted songs that are faster than their biggest influence. They have a number of time changes and song deformations that make them go in any direction at will.

The band does have that classic sound that Morbid Angel brings to the table back when they were a band to be reckoned with. It’s really the guitar riffs in their twisted shape that echo the Morbid Angel comparison the most. These are some oddly deformed riffs, but they sound so structured overall. The band takes the speed to Origin levels, but has the song-writing chops to back up their use of quickness, unlike that band. Here, the riffs overlap one another in a creative way that always makes you think the band was paying proper attention to the writing that was being performed. This ensues in a combination of different metal bands, primarily Morbid Angel, into a sound that is uniquely the band’s own. There is also a spacey aspect that must be mentioned. The songs are other dimensional constructions that leave plenty of room for playing with space. This allows the tracks to breathe and have a proper impact upon the listener. The opening track is a bit of an odd one, but right from Where the Stars Align a standard of death metal is brought to the table. There is no denying the creativity of the band in constructing these death metal epics to the absolute greatest measure possible. The technicality of the band brings the songs to life and makes them as open-ended, yet structured as possible. There are very few moments where the band lets up the pace, but there is a bit too much breathing room at the end of the recording.

Aside from this small gripe, the power and wizardry of Mithras are clear and they craft one of the defining moments of 2016 with this death metal effort.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10