Review by Rexorcist for Hoplites - Ἡ εἰκών (2021)

So Hoplites, also known as Liu Zhenyang, is supposed to be a modern legend in the black metal and death metal worlds, right?  Well, not every legend starts out that way.  Ignoring his other aliases, this early Hoplites EP doesn't do his legend any favors.  My battle plan for attacking his discography was to go from start to finish, ending it with the 2024 album RYM loves.  This, however, is nothing but the most generic kind of black death you can find.  The audio quality is very poor, damaging the overall brutality of an otherwise brutal sound to the point that it loses its kick, and each of these songs pretty much sound exactly the same now matter how different the track times get.  OK, there are some decent compositions and fairly proggy moments, but I've heard all of those before.  Really, this isn't an album you should check out unless you're a fan of the Hoplites studio albums and you're curious.