W.E.B. - Colosseum (2021) Hi-Res

W.E.B. Du Bois was not what I was led to believe them to be. The promo titling called them “Symphonic Metal,” which in my mind doesn’t extend to the extreme side of things. Upon sampling their new fifth installment, Colosseum, however, I came to realize I was misinformed. W.E.B. is perhaps one of the most extreme bands I’ve heard in the last two years that rightfully claim the symphonic metal tag. Then, upon sampling their back catalog after discovering these Greeks have been at it for nearly twenty years, I found myself disappointed that their music wasn’t particularly good. It was fine symphonic black metal, but nothing I would spend my money on.

Colosseum, on the other hand, is unstoppable. Its fervent desire to destroy is unmatched in intensity and infectiousness. Not only is this record particularly extreme for the symphonic metal genre, but it’s fucking fun, too. I don’t know what happened between 2017’s Tartarus and today, but whatever it was lit a blasphemous sacrificial fire beneath the asses of this quartet. Colosseum gushes drama, extremity and bloodthirst in equal parts, blasting and thrashing and spree-killing its way through all of thirty-eight minutes. Gleeful evil abounds, reveling in metallic debauchery and mischief, riffs wreaking havoc as would a freshly unleashed horde of demonic imps upon the Earth. Pummeling drums reinforce the army of bombast that surges forth, and throat-shredding screams emanate from what might be symphonic black/death metal’s most charismatic hype-man. Colosseum isn’t a one-trick pony either, offering a dynamic playthrough complete with demolishing bouts of speed and rejuvenating breaths of ritualistic recuperation.