Review by Rexorcist for Hoplites - Τρωθησομένη (2023)

Liu Zhenyang takes a new turn with this third project under the name Hoplites, having steered away from the death metal aspects of his previous two efforts and has now gone into crossover territory.  On this album, we have some distinct and powerful levels of blackcore that comntinue to use Zhenyang's excellent sense of crystal-clear production bringing out the best of noisy guitars.  You can hear everything perfectly in this extremely clean and never too-polished production, no matter what rapid pace the beat takes.  There is a punkish feel about it as elements of tech thrash, crossover thrash, metalcore and mathcore find their way in different places.  This sometimes makes certain songs feel shorter than they really are.  I was amazed that the fifth track was four minutes when it felt like two and a half minutes.  Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of variation that can be found in the emotional tone of the album, which was also a problem for the previous album, so while these songs are cool and have strong merits, don't expect the imagination that acts like Burzum and Emperor have achieved.  Still, I'm glad we have a black metal album willing to steer into thrashier and corier territory.  Strangely enough, the thrash aspects do more for the aggression than the dissonant death did on the debut album.  This gives songs like Hektropa a power that overtakes the senses.  So overall, thanks to an improved tone and aggression, this album is a fair improvement over the first album.