Genre: Blackened Progressive Death / Thrash Metal

01 In Arctic Exile
02 F Subzero
03 Sleeping Beast
04 Origins
05 Collapse of the Tower

So here it is, a release that I have been anticipating for many months. Actually, I have been waiting for this since I met Blood Eagle here at Heathen Harvest. Blood Eagle is the drummer for this...well...metal band. It is hard to classify Saros as they truely are all over the charts with their style. I must admit that these are some of the more beautiful blackened guitar riffs that I have heard in some time. As with a few releases that I've reviewed lately though, the mix seems to be missing something. The treble side is way too high and the low end doesn't come out nearly enough. That's the only problem with the ENTIRE release though, except perhaps speed. Sometimes the riffs come off a little slow. The rest of 'Five Pointed Tongue" is very well written though. It's also nice to hear an extreme progressive band use high-end clean vocals too. I'm so used to deep clean vocals that it took me off guard at first, but with every listen they really fit the music better to an extent.

Some of the leads on this EP are just incredible. In Arctic Exile is an epic track that features everything under the metal sun in its own right. The song starts with feedback leading into a beautiful tremlo-styled riff that really perks one's ears up. Most of the tracks themselves seem more thrashy than anything else, but the music is definitely progressive in nature. I'd very much like to hear more black-metal styled guitar work as what Saros had written for the beginning of In Arctic Exile was beyond amazing. The other incredible talent that this band seems to have is their capacity for clean vocals. The ending of Sleeping Beast completely caught me off guard With newer Katatonia-esque riffs towards the end with colorful vocal harmonies to accompany it, the end of this track made for a strong build of emotions that is really undescribable until you hear this part of the track for yourself.

Personally, I believe the track Origins is where Blood Eagle's skills as a drummer really shine through. This track is long, high class, and top notch difficulty for a drummer of this style. The more I listen, the more I wish there were more vocal lines though. Whether extreme or clean, it doesn't matter. The music just really lacks feeling without the vocals there at times. Also perhaps finding a keyboardist may really add something to the music to fill in the background a bit. However, the band really shines through as a whole in the very last track, Collapse of the Tower. The whole song is completely flawless, though now instead of straight clean vocals, it sounds like they've used a Microkorg or some other type of voicemod to control the notation on the vocal harmonies. This has been a very solid release for a band that experiments with different elements of metal. Many bands who attempt this many directions usually slip up and make one or two horrid tracks that should have never even been attempted. Everything here was beautifully written. The only problems are strictly aesthetic. So here's another one for you experimentalists out there to give a listen to. Or even just fans of Progressive metal or rock. What do you really have to lose?