Sothis 

De Oppresso Liber

Candlelight Records 2008

Taking a cue from their European brethren, Los Angeles' Sothis veer into the symphonic black metal realms with tons of keyboards deeply entrenched within every song on their debut album, De Oppresso Liber.  However this is a double edged sword.  Not only is this style currently awash in bands following the trend but for the most part they have all managed to painted themselves into a corner.  Unimaginative synth passages compete with rapid-fire drum patterns for the listeners attention.  The drumming is fairly interesting but also somewhat robbed of its potential through bland over triggering.  Especially on the monotonous kick drums which are virutally nonstop throughout De Oppresso Liber's duration.  This has the effect of making the drums grating on ones nerves.  The album does border on being interesting on some of the middle tracks like Obsidian Throne where the blending of death metal sensibilities matches well with the Dimmu/Emperor styled black metal riffing and keyboard melodies.  On Defiance Galloping drums and bouncing riffs fuse with swirling piano flourishes but this ultimately falls flat as well.  De Oppresso Liber is ultimately a forgettable journey down a well worn path.  Sothis has ventured into no new territory nor have they managed to make anything captivating within these fully explored realms.  I guess in the end what I am trying to say is that Sothis are too generic in an oversaturated scene.  AVOID.