Review by Vladimir on September 28, 2023.

These days it’s hard to find black or death metal outfits that can truly shock, inspire or even express themselves musically. However, one of the bands that truly manages to do all of these is the death/black metal band Trivax, originally from Iran but later relocated to the UK. The band certainly proved to be a big attraction as of lately with their latest singles 'Azrael' and 'Alpha Predator', but the release of their second full-length album Eloah Burns Out on September 29th via Cult Never Dies, made an even bigger impact than their aforementioned singles. I have not been following this band from the very start, though I was lucky to come across the podcast show Iblis Manifestation which is hosted by the band’s founding member, guitarist and vocalist Shayan, through which I would also end up discovering Trivax. This album might be one of my most anticipated releases of 2023, because the two singles really hyped me up and going into this album, I had nothing but high expectations. Was it worth it? Let’s find out… 

The opener track 'Azrael' kicks things off with the Persian stringed instrument Setar, until suddenly all hell breaks loose once the destructive main riff is carried over to the guitars and blast beats. Once Shayan’s guttural vocals join in, the musical aggression is on a whole new level, pretty much giving this song even more steel and shrapnel that shreds like hot knife through butter. On top of all this shredding and grinding, you’ll find other treats such as wicked death-thrashing moments, evident on the following track 'Alpha Predator', with some blasphemous and war-like riffs backed up with double-bass drumming or blast beats, all of which created this overwhelming wall of sound like you’re suddenly surrounded with nothing but chaos and distortion. The entirety of this song is a total banger, but I have to say that the song’s finale is incredibly catchy and absolutely banging to the core. Alongside all the chaos and destruction, they even managed to throw in some musical beauty, in acoustic or in ambient form. The first example would be the third track 'Silent Contemplation', which is filled with wonderful acoustic guitars and keyboards, while the other example is the sixth track 'Memento Mori' which is more ambient and soothing with clean vocals and clean guitars. Even though both songs serve as great interludes between songs, I personally think that they also succeed at being great instrumental pieces on their own. If you were by any chance looking for something epic and melodic on this album, then the fourth track 'Serpent’s Gaze' is exactly what your heart desires. This time, the band included some powerful epic choir backing vocals and melodic guitar work in the style of Dissection and Watain, while also being backed up by keyboards that just add more to the overall greatness of this song. Luckily the epic choir vocals would make a triumphant return on tracks 'Against All Opposition (By Aeshma's Wrath)', even though it was just for a brief moment. The songwriting on this album is very effective and dynamic, providing so much aggression and power that would probably give Marduk a run for their money. The most frequent elements on this album are the aggressive tremolo picking riffs, blast beats and double-bass drumming, but you also have acoustic guitar and some sections that include dissonant open string riffs, which remind you of bands like Watain or Necrophobic. Each song has its sharp edge that is successfully carried over from one track to another, with such strong dedication and focus that it refuses to let go at any given moment. You can truly tell that there was hard work put into each bit of every song when the entirety of this album still holds up during its total length of 50 minutes. Something that truly amazed me was this particular part of the album, which is the transition from the sixth song 'Memento Mori' to the next song 'Twilight Death'. As the ambient track 'Memento Mori' ends with an ambient sound of rainfall and church bells, the following track kicks in with a slow, eerie and doomy riff that reminds me of the main riff from the song “Black Sabbath” by Black Sabbath. I am not sure if this was intentional or merely coincidental, but considering the fact that Trivax relocated to Birmingham where Black Sabbath is from, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was actually done on purpose. The cover art for this album by the Indonesian artist Waguna Wiryawan deserves some mention too, because it is truly a fantastic artwork and I think it perfectly symbolizes what this album would look like if it took an actual physical form. The sound production for this album is incredibly heavy and massive, where the biggest highlight would have to be the extreme chugging sound of the guitars, along with the loud banging on drums. 

I have to say, this album left me beyond words so much that I could barely describe what I have just witnessed. It is by far one of the heaviest, if not the heaviest album I have heard this year, which as I said before, would probably give bands like Marduk a run for their money. Eloah Burns Out is truly an extreme work of art like no other and it’s definitely perfect for fans of black and death metal, because I can guarantee that you won’t find anything as well-thought and well composed as this album. Trivax certainly managed to surpass my expectations and it was definitely worth it. Hail master Death indeed! 

Rating: 9.3 out of 10