Triarii – Pièce Héroique

With the debut Ars militaria Triarii directly made a name for itself in the martial neo-classical scene. Therefore quite a bit was expected from the follow-up from the German project. Well, they could stand the pressure and have come up with an improved successor.

Pièce heroique follows more or less the same recipe, but in a more coherent manner: very bombastic orchestral hymns, packed with choirs, trumpets, strings and heavy percussion. Vocal elements are featured more prominently this time. Everything sounds highly dramatic and heroic. One of my favourite pieces is the relatively tranquil ‘Kameraden’, with a melancholic neo-classical melody and nostalgic speech samples. Some tracks are really heavy, like ‘Overkill’ and ‘On wings of steel’, reminding me Von Thronstahl.

The production of Pièce heroique sounds much more powerful and clear than on the previous album, perhaps due to the mastering skills of In Slaughter Natives. Another nice touch is the vocal presence of Tomas Petterson (Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio) on ‘Roses 4 Rome’. This wonderful piece makes me think of the recent collaboration between In Slaughter Natives and Petterson on ‘Consume my burning hollow’.

This is a very solid and powerful album. Towards the end of the album I get a bit exhausted from all the orchestral bombast. But probably it was also the intention of Triarri to create an intense experience which will burn out the listener.

artist: Triarii
label: Eternal Soul Records
details: cd, 12 tracks, 2006 [ES CD05]