Review: Fell Omen – Caelid Dog Summer

August 15, 2025

1041

You Can’t Siege Steel

A one-man solo project from Greece, Fell Omen started to make an impact earlier this year with a really fun debut record in Invaded by a Dark Spirit. Inspired by the world of Elden Ring, the debut from Spider of Pynx (who has also in the past played in the mighty Mystras) showcased an interesting blend of raw black metal, punk, traditional heavy metal and dungeon synth, making for a quick but very impressive record. Following this, the one man in knight’s armor now has another album out 6 months later: Caelid Dog Summer.

Named after a two-phase boss battle in Elden Ring (General Radahn), “Starscourge Phase One & Two” starts the album off with a blended vibe of traditional heavy metal riffing and Midnight-style energy which makes it an interesting but different start to the record. Following this is an absolute rager of a track in “Northern Lights Bomb;” this is one of the couple times that Fell Omen gets away from the Elden Ring theme as it’s named after a wrestling finisher invented by joshi wrestler, Akira Hokuto. As well as using a sample containing Japanese wrestling commentary from a Hokuto match as an intro, the song displays the punk side that Fell Omen does so well; this makes it a personal favorite of mine as I enjoy the faster, bouncy rhythms.

The next song, “The Horrors Persist but So Does Steel” continues the punk momentum with two minutes of immense evil and furious black metal anger. Another similarity this song has with the previous track is the use of the hurdy-gurdy that, while a curveball for the genre, works with the band’s style. “Born to Siege” comes up next with more of a fun punk rock feel compared to the previous couple tracks. This also shows off the traditional heavy metal mixed in that makes for some really fun riffs and guitar solos.

With what seems to be a funny take on Poison Ruïn’s name, “Poise on Rune” does a great job in mixing the punk and heavy metal riffs throughout; the song rocks hard and is pure fun. The penultimate title track is a two-minute dungeon synth interlude, “Caelid Dog Summer;” it’s a nice calm before the storm before the final track, “The Fire is Still Warm.” This closing track brings out a doomier side that we haven’t seen much of from this band, especially in its guitar solo and bass riff. It’s also another good way of showing the rock-influenced sound that’s a nice raw ending to a very adventurous follow-up.

Despite thinking previously that it’s probably too early for a follow-up to their debut, Caelid Dog Summer ended up being another great medieval adventure from Fell Omen. While it does give us more of the same heard on Invaded by a Dark Spirit, this album also shows off more of its punk and heavy metal elements that makes things refreshing. Hell, this album decided to throw in some hard rock and doom elements in for good measure, especially in the last couple of tracks. That being said, the black metal side of things is still there with its raw and aggressive nature that people liked with the debut. All in all, it’s a nicely done 30-minute album that follows up the debut successfully as well as having some new things for the fans.