Review by Rexorcist for Hoplites - Ψευδομένη (2023)

Two years after the release of an underwhelming extended play, Liu Zhenyang as Hoplites produces the first studio album under that name, and shows a dramatic improvement that pretty much cements him as an inventive and worthwhile black death artist.  In the short 37 minutes are a bunch of interesting compositions that fit a perfect balance between black and death, and making some room for experimentation with the tempos and structures, oftentimes being quite intriguing.  The one thing about the album that's mastered is the atmosphere.  There's an excellent level of brutality and aggression that any aspiring extreme metal artist needs to get right, proving that Zhenyang was fully aware of the mistakes of the EP.  It's exceptionally noisy and crystal clear at the same time.  My problem with the album is that despite all it's trying to achieve, all of the songs pretty much have the same tone of guitars and emotional core, meaning that the songs aren't as varied as the diversified genre-tagging would have you believe.  Otherwise, this is a fun 38 minutes and it makes me eager to see how much more Hoplites will improve.