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Okay I'll be blunt. I don't see how Anubis can stand out from the mass of mediocrity, to put it mildly. I hate saying things like "if you're a retro-demo freak, go get it", yet again this is the only reason why you should even bother lending an ear to "These Ancient Halls". I don't mean to be rude with the Dutches but apart from some flashes of intelligence and good musicianship (like a couple of riffs and solos especially on the 2007 recordings), I'm not fully convinced.
First of, even though Anubis are labeled as thrash I believe they are mostly into traditional monolithic heavy metal with some speedy moments and thrash outbursts. "These Ancients Halls" is consisted of 5 tracks 2 of which where recorded in 2006 (the initial release included only those) and 3 that were added later recorded in 2007. The 2006 recordings, say "Anubian Melodies" and "Contempt is Our Guide" fall short on almost every aspect. Poor compositions save one or two nice passages here and there, and a nice solo on "Contempt is Our Guide" and that's about it. Poor production as you might have guessed by now, still let's turn a blind eye to it and pretend it doesn't matter seeing that it's a demo.
The 2007 recordings on the other hand ("Terrorfever", "The Concept of God" and "Act on Repulse") are more attractive and reveal a different face of the band. Maybe it's only me but they sound like Manilla Road on a demo basis and with a more speed/thrashy mood. This is mostly because of the way Kevin sings, no way he is the same guy with the previous two tracks, and the dry and rough production. He places his voice and passes from deep to clean or growling vocals in a better manner. These three tracks (2007 recordings) are a glimmer of hope, a step towards the right direction. There's some potential there, the question is whether they can make something out of it in a more constructive and efficient way, musically speaking.
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