Julio Viterbo is a man known for playing in death metal bands – from Tormentor to Cenotaph to Shub Niggurath – but he recently decided to go back to his roots. Heavy metal. The genre which got him into music. Thusly, Heavens Decay was born. Rounded out by former Shub Niggurath and Cenotaph drummer Oscar Clorio and Stone Magnum frontman Nick Hernandez the band are heavily inspired by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and it shows.
From the moment Viterbo’s guitar kicks in with Intro – a song which is exactly that, a minute long intro – you can tell this is going to be a guitar heavy album and that is exactly what The Great Void of Mystery is. Born of Fire is the first official song on the album and it’s an old-school headbangers dream. Very Iron Maiden in sound this is a ripping tune and a solid way to kick off Heavens Decay’s debut.
The lead single from this album, The Exile, is, surprisingly, the second last track on The Great Void of Mystery and, as the shortest song on the album, it serves as a great teaser to the rest of the album. It’s fast, furious, head-banging metal at its finest.
The record comes to an end in epic style with the almost-nine-minute-long Endless Fire. A powerful end to the album with a track that could which wouldn’t be out of place on most eighties heavy metal albums.
Viterbo’s guitar work on this album is phenomenal. It is by far the highlight of the record. This is a man who’s been handling a guitar for a long time and it shows. It also shows how hard he worked on composing this album as he, Clorio and Hernandez gel so well together it’s difficult to believe this is their debut album. Heavens Decay is already writing their next album so definitely keep your eyes peeled for that.
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