Rock N' Roll loves its duos. From the original songwriting team of Lennon and McCartney, to the collaboration of MEAT LOAF and Jim Steinman, to proper two person groups like THE WHITE STRIPES and THE BLACK KEYS, Rock & Roll has a rich history of such partnerships. When it comes to Metal however, particularly of the more extreme varieties, such dynamic duos are fairly rare. Considering the layers and volume of sound the average Metal band generates, this isn't all that surprising. Yet somehow, Death Metal duo MITHRAS - vocalist/bassist Rayner Coss and guitarist/drummer Leon Macey - manage to generate as much, if not more noise than their four to six piece counterparts. That, in and of itself, is pretty impressive.

The world of MITHRAS is alternately brutal and unearthly, not unlike the labyrinthine hell portrayed on the cover art. It's a world where Death Metal was as influenced by the spacey Progressive Rock of PINK FLOYD as the relentless assault of MORBID ANGEL, where members of NAPALM DEATH and AT THE GATES share hits of acid and read H.P. Lovecraft, and where OPETH have abandoned their Gothic Doom dirges to go straight for the throat. Were there such a genre as Death Art, MITHRAS would be at the forefront.

The intro track "The Journey And The Forsaken" is appropriately titled; "Behind The Shadows Lie Madness" is indeed a journey, taking the listener on a tour of the abyssal landscape of Coss and Macey's collective imagination. If the album is occasionally jagged or uneven, it's only because the very world it shows is jagged and uneven. Songs like "To Fall From The Heavens" and "Into Black Holes Of Oblivion" start like the firing of artillery, sprawl into a war torn battlefield, and often fade off abruptly in an unworldly echo. There's riffs and grooves a plenty, and the melodies, when recognizable amid the chugging, are eerie and alien.

Like most experimental albums, "Behind the Shadows Lie Madness" takes several listens to really click, or to even get all the way through. Between the brutal riffs, Jazzy time changes, and bizarre song structures, sensory overload starts to kick in around midway through album. Atmospheric interludes like "When the Light Fades Away" provide only a brief respite before the band launches back into their jackhammer assault. Those willing to give the album the patience it deserves, however, will be amply rewarded.