If you’re bummed out about the recent disbanding of Blind Witness, the up and coming band Gloria Victis will most likely turn that frown upside-down because they play a style that is much the same. Both the vocals and riffs are eerily similar to Blind Witness and Disfigured Elegance but they’re not just simply ripping these two bands off. Instead, they borrow a few aspects of the aforementioned bands and add some more melody to the already successful blueprints. While they’re not bringing anything new to the table, they put out some pretty good tunes on this five-track EP.The EP opens with “A Love War” which is the first song I heard by Gloria Victis just a few days before the EP was released. “A Love War” will have you making connections with Blind Witness and Disfigured Elegance within the first minute like it had me doing. The first track is one of my favourites, but perhaps the strongest song on the EP is the final track, “Lumen”, because it has a lot going on. The guitar riffs and leads are outstanding, the breakdowns are very moveable, the clean vocals are used in moderation and sound good, and the soundclip near the end of the song is a nice touch and flows into the final breakdown quite nicely.However, not the entire EP is smooth sailing. It does have its weak points like the beginning of “Winter Bird” and parts of “One Thousand Track Mind”. The first half of “Winter Bird” is kind of boring, but my attention was quickly brought back to focus when I heard the guitar solo. Despite the spectacular solo, “Winter Bird” is still one of the weaker tracks on the EP because it takes a very long time to get going. After “Winter Bird” ends, “One Thousand Track Mind” comes into play. It starts off quite nicely with some stellar riffing, but the track starts to lose some of its luster with obsessive chugging and breakdowns near the end.All-in-all, the EP was impressive and I’m excited to hear what’s next to come from this band. I would recommend that you give it a chance especially because Gloria Victus put it up for free on Bandcamp. 
Links: Facebook – Bandcamp
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