Decaying-Encirclement

When I first thought of DM from Finland, the magnificent scene that held bands like Abhorrence, Demigod or Convulse came to mind, and I have to admit that I had high hopes for this album, especially since Finland hasn't delivered outstanding metal this year. Having high hopes Decaying 's Encirclement was a bad mistake simply because it didn't satisfy my thirst for old school Finish DM. Though I think It would be inconvenient for me to say that this album was a terrible failure. In fact, Encirclement has a considerably solid structure and a steady barrage of thrashy OSDM riffage striking with a fair amount of power and freshness, sufficient to keep the listener entertained the whole way through.

The album obviously doesen't come with any striking features of its own and unfortunately lacks the same frenzied and raw feeling that was highly pervasive in old school Finnish DM bands. It cant be denied that at times the band tries to sound like their fellow countrymen especially with the frequent usage of glooming, even doomy melodies during mellow passages and more spacious sections on the album, whenever the band feels like attaining some atmosphere and ambiance to give a sort of old school feel. These kinds of sinister, brooding melodies have ringed in my ears for quite some time from either Swedish or Finish bands, and I am to be fully accurate than I must say that doomy melodies are a bit inconvenient to be used in such a straightforward and clear album. They have tried to immitate their forfathers and thus have taken a risk that ended in a derivative result. Fortunately, the plain, compelling and hard-hitting riifs restore the album to full health with ease, and the atmospheric touch on the techy Pestilence - esque riffage provides the album with a much needed unique sound in contrast to other derivatively unoriginal death metal bands.

The Van Drunnen-esque vocal stylings never fail to amuse me, no matter how many times they are repeated. And the certain Pestilence vibe only emphasises the enchanting old school feeling. "Initiation" is the perfect mid-paced, grooving and forlorn OSDM track here. It's sufficiently short and the riffs randomly switch between groovy yet catchy melodies and cruwshing tremolo strikes, still going with a steady thrash influence. "Artillery Barrage" is even more excellent, a crushing and plain track with furoious death thrash riffs spawning like zombies emerging out of nowhere. Just like msost songs, it hares vividly resemblance to Pestilence's debut and sophomore, perfectly consummating a thrashy and catchy sound even with some technical proficiency. The technically driven riffs even take a certain trail of proggression when left in open space. During the more spacious sections of album, the level of melody and technical profiency increases at velocious rate, and the true face of musicianship begins to unfold as the guitarists display a wide range of grooving and swaggering riffs both crushing and melodic yet still being able to sound as plain and straightforward as possible.

The album draws immense influences from both Pestilence and Bolt Thrower, having attained a sound that feels just like a cross between the imperatives of the two. ''Encirclement'' includes a vast number of riffs, taken and spread out to populate the lenghtly songs. While it may sound imitative, once you take a closer look, you'll see that the derivation is actually a cool feature to add, since no DM fan should do without Bolt Thrower or Pestilence. I may say in relief that this is the most plain DM release I've heard all year, with almost no density or thickness production wise, I can safely acquire this album and let it sorround and conquer me, because I know that no matter what, I will enjoy the plain sound.

Highlights:
Artillery Barrage
Battle Of The Somme
The Hell Of Verdun


Rating: 87%