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| #FOR FANS OF: Death Metal, Hate Eternal, Immolation, Morbid Angel |
The fourth full-length from this Polish Death Metal act really seems to have hit their stride here with one of their tightest, most consistent and cohesive efforts yet. Deftly mixing together dynamic technical riffing and over-the-top wankfest-style leads here with a tight rhythm section that often-times gets dragged into thrashier realms with their speed-driven crunch intertwined together all makes for quite the dynamic collection here that fully offers a fine collection here to draw upon for their work here. The fact that there’s not a full-on devolution into mind-numbing technicality and instead offers plenty of truer crunch here that oftentimes results in fine chugging riff-work is such a fine tool wielded throughout here that it alone is the single greatest driving force on the album, not being overly concerned with the technicality at the forefront of the songs but dousing the rhythms with enough lead-work to appear complex and challenging while the more concise blasting and tight rhythms charge the rest of the song along. These here manage to give this a lot to like here, which does manage to stumble slightly here with one track here that drops a lot of that in favor of more melodic and atmospheric work instead of the charging Death Metal that had been largely the focus on the rest of the album here, yet the fact that the rest of the songs are of high quality does keep this one significantly better than expected. Instrumental intro ‘Abruption’ gives off some dark industrial themes and droning guitars that settle nicely into proper first song ‘Give Place unto Wrath (Vengeance Is Mine; I Will Repay)’ which fully unleashes scathing swashes of technical riffing, dexterous drum-blasts and utterly maddening tempo changes that occur at the drop of a hat which makes for some really dynamic times here with the different elements making this a truly impressive and explosive track that signals the album highlight right off the bat. ‘New Enemy Rising’ is much the same with a slightly less technically-proficient riff and settles into more of a slightly more traditional Death Metal crunch though still manages to maintain that impressive and tightly-wound rhythm section that still incorporates enough of the technical bursts in the second half to remain equally as enjoyable. The scathing ‘Dybbuk’ is their most technically challenging and proficient series of riff-work throughout here which offers up some of the fastest rhythms, pounding drumming and utterly ferocious technical runs throughout the album while getting the most out of its atmospheric leads charging throughout the finale which make this another spectacular highlight track. Offering a slight change-up, ‘Self-carving Titan’ drops the mainly frenetic paces here with a change-up into slightly more mid-tempo areas offset with some melody-driven lead rhythms and a significantly less intense series of riffs that’s decidedly enjoyable if coming off like a different group playing such is the disparity between the other tracks. Both ‘Mechanism of Deceit’ and ‘Mors Imperator Mundi’ bring back that enjoyably technical rhythms and blasting drumming that keeps the rather dynamic riffing at the forefront here with the different tempos allowing for a charging collection of wanking and steady chugging rhythms that make these another fine standouts. ‘Corporate Beasts’ features some solid mid-tempo charging here that does manage to come off rather nicely here with the drop-off of technical prowess off-setting the enjoyable charging riff-work at the forefront here that does feature a highly-technical finale which is a solid if somewhat lower-quality effort from the other tracks here. ‘On the Ashes of the World’ is yet another high-quality charging blast-fest filled with scalding lead rhythms, utterly pounding drumming and a ferocious tempo that charges through as strongly and powerful as the remaining tracks with driving intensity and full-on technical prowess that makes this another powerful track. Lastly, finale ‘The Chastener’ manages to offer even more intensity here as the technical rhythms and driving energy are on full-display here with plenty of vicious leads and pounding drumming that carries on nicely through the rather frantic tempos here into a nice atmospheric finale that ends this on a high-note. It’s mostly that one out-of-place track that holds this one down. (Don Anelli)
(Ghastly Music - 2015)
Score: 85