(In the following article our contributor Didrik Mešiček provides not only a review of Ex Deo‘s new EP, which will be out on Friday of this week via Reigning Phoenix Music, but also a history lesson.)
There’s no band that bridges the gap between ancient history and metal quite as much as Ex Deo. I think it’s not a very contentious opinion to say that the side project of Kataklysm’s frontman Maurizio Iacono has musically surpassed the main band, even though the reach of Ex Deo‘s audience is much smaller. Ex Deo will be releasing a new EP called Year of the Four Emperors, which continues the story from their last album, on January 10th. Let’s hope 2025 goes a bit better than the year 69 CE went in the Roman Empire.
So because this is a release very tightly linked with history and because I’m a history nerd, we’re going to be doing something slightly different and that means including a lot of history into what’s meant to be an article about an EP. Who’d have thought you can come to NCS to learn about things other than music, eh?
The year is 68 CE and Nero is realising basically everyone who matters in Rome doesn’t like him. I’m sure you’ve heard about him, he’s one of the most infamous Roman emperors, the one who supposedly wrote poems while Rome was in flames and then found it shocking he wasn’t a favourite of the people. Ex Deo covered the 13 years of his reign in their last full-length release, and by the end of it he understands his situation is fairly hopeless. Nero, aged 30, commits suicide, plunging the Empire into chaos and its first civil war.
Nero, not having named an heir, tasks the Senate with finding the new Emperor and they get their man in the governor of Hispania – Servius Sulpicius Galba. The band has named each of the four songs after one of the emperors of the year 69 and thus the first track is called “Galba.” Ex Deo likes to add spoken word to their songs and they begin in the same way, as Galba is called to march to Rome and take his place as the new Emperor. The core of the sound is pretty standard melodeath, not too dissimilar from Kataklysm, but what elevates the band is the brilliant symphonics done by Ardek (Carach Angren), while Maurizio Iacono’s vocal experience guides the story very well.
Galba’s reign wasn’t what the Romans hoped for, however, as the man was by all accounts simply unlikeable. Unaware, old, and surprisingly stern, he failed to garner favour with nearly everyone and even his supporters began to abandon him. His reign is ended after seven months as the emperor’s personal bodyguards – the Praetorian guard – assassinate him on the instruction of his former ally who came with him to Rome from his seat in Lusitania (now Portugal), and the second emperor in the year of 69 CE – Marcus Salvius Otho.
“Otho” has a pretty distinct riff and support from the blast beats, but is generally less grand than the opening track. Once again, the song features a few lines of spoken word, already alluding to the next emperor in line. Otho was a much younger man, likened to Nero by some, and more popular, yet revolts throughout the empire didn’t favour him. In Germania, the armies under his command proclaimed a new emperor – Aulus Vitellius – and he was charging towards Rome, at first expecting to challenge Galba, but instead Otho was there to await him.
Otho‘s armies were quickly organised and initially held Vitellius’s attack but ultimately had to fall back, and Otho, doing what perhaps more leaders should be doing, committed suicide, saying it is more just that one dies for all, than many for one. His reign was ended after only 91 days, which would be the shortest of any emperor until Pertinax’s in The Year of the Five Emperors in 193.
There’s a surprising industrial note to the death metal sound in “Vitellius,” which I found odd at first, but it does built suspense well and fits into the overall theme of Roman chaos. The song features some lovely piano work as well, another rather unexpected feature. It’s a fairly morose song, especially in the second half as it deals with his death. And his was perhaps the most tragic death of all in that year.
Vitellius’s reign began in April and was largely unsuccessful. Notable historians such as Tacitus and Cassius Dio have few good words to say about him, with some accounts suggesting Vitellius starved his own mother to death. His reign withered quickly as he heard of revolts as early as June, this time coming from the eastern part of the Empire, from the lands of what would today be Egypt. There, a new claimant was crowned – Titus Flavius Vespasianus – but he would not come to reign in Rome until December of 69 CE.
The final song of Year of the Four Emperors is fittingly powerful, ornate with rich symphonics and thunderous drumming. Iacono, as ever, does a good job vocally on “Vespasian,” especially in the hard-hitting “Vespasian rules!” chorus, but Ardek’s classical arrangements are what really elevates this EP from standard melodeath to something a lot more memorable.
As Vespasian was crowned very far away from Rome he did not actually march to take his seat, but as his support throughout the empire grew it was armies from today’s Balkan region that would march and face Vitellius, whose reign quickly seemed unsure. As he tried to abdicate he was stopped by the Praetorian guard and forced to return to the palace in what proved to be a very unwise decision as the attacking forces quickly sacked Rome, and 50,000 thousand are said to have died in the chaos. Vitellius was eventually found and killed by Vespasian’s supporters, with his dying words supposedly being, “Yet, I was once your emperor…”
Thus the Year of the Four Emperors comes to its inevitable end, finally with a stable emperor in Vespasian who would go on to rule for ten years and establish the Flavian dynasty, while also beginning various projects such as building the Flavian Amphitheatre, or as you might know it better – The Colosseum – and continuing to expand the Empire. His sons would follow after him and then the Five Good Emperors, which I hope will be the subject of a future Ex Deo album.
Right, so I realise there’s not been that much talk of music in this piece, but I think it’s important to understand the story a bit while listening to this EP as it does elevate and bring gravity to the songs and I think it’s fun to do something a bit different anyway. Year of the Four Emperors is musically pretty great on its own as well, especially with how beautifully the melodeath base works with those symphonic elements. I wish we had more bands like this – bands that dare to mix in such classical influences and bands that cover history in such detail.
Ex Deo is currently on a massive European tour with Fleshgod Apocalypse and Dark Funeral and if you want to see a middle-aged Italian-Canadian cosplay as a Roman on stage this is your ideal chance. Ave Roma!
LINEUP:
James Payne – drums
Maurizio Iacono – vocals
Dano Apekian – bass
Stéphane Barbo – guitars
Jean-François Dagenais – guitars
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