Autolatry - Of The Land

Although I was aware of the presence of Autolatry's EP ''Of The Land'' for some 6-7 months, my acquaintance with immense progressive black metal output only occurred in much more latter days, wherein, I found myself deeply immersed in the almost cavernous fabrications of this woven, compulsive and fibrous complex that immediately brought vivid imagery of winter gloom and stranded desolation in the colorful, semi-mountainous forests of New England whom the band tries so hard to depict. Despite their independent status and the lack of natural pulchritude, Autolatry create a wonderfully entertaining concoction of numerous influences, deploying big portions of each into the mixture, and utilizing the depressive aura of the frigid winter cold, they really release all their potential had in store for us in a single twenty-minute discharge.

While still borrowing some depressive moods to insert into the diverse spectrum of riffs, ''Of The Land'' is particularly dynamic and does not quite give in to simplicity while carrying out these organic, bludgeoning black metal incursions, and it certainly does not rehash previously used techniques while churning the four, fairly lengthy tracks together. Of The Land's most absorbing feature is its successful blend of grainy, deepened atmospheric black metal aesthetics which may clearly scream Immortal, early Emperor and Dissection due the usage of beleaguering onsets of progressive melody, and less prominent progressive black metal elements that seethe through the fibrous dissemination almost perfectly, creating a unique, dazzling, atmospheric, and slightly depressive procession. The guitar tone is enormous but at the same time it's radiant and precise; the band professionally besets listeners with intricate guitar riffing surfing over a gigantic wall of sonic, claustrophobic Norwegian sound waves.

Originality and creativity is not encouraged and is not amiss. On ''Oak'', the group, after about two thirds of the track is complete, breaks into a gorgeous, transient acoustic medley while a dazzling lead dances over the northern lights, depicting the band's desolate journey through the winter woods. Then, further on, ''Stag'' plummets a cluster  of technical intricacies as an immense chugging brute wanders mildly in the subtext. As you may simply understand, Autolatry have created a very nice little black metal album that we can all enjoy thanks to its relative accessibility and dynamic nature, and as if their efforts did not offer enough, the whole is EP is free at the band's bandcamp, so go there now and throw in a few bucks for the unrealized glory of these progressive black metal practitioners and show your support.

Highlights:
Mountain
Snow
Oak

Rating: 84%

Burning Shadows - Gather, Darkness!

It's always to come across new power metal gems whilst reluctantly weeding through heaps of death metal groups, and one of my latest findings is the Maryland heavy/power quartet Burning Shadows, and their sophomore ''Gather, Darkness!''. To be sure, many who first encountered the group might have actually tossed them far off due to multiple reasons: fear of a generic output, dissatisfaction from the debut records, or simply the fact that the band is not tied together with a label might put off the more spoiled of listeners, yet I, from the very start had a burning desire to contemplate the semi-shadowy aesthetics of this war-arousing bulk of a record. There are many reasons why one might have been drawn to this album while still under the encapsulating tenor of agitation, but I'll only be focusing on the content now; so fear not, we have some damnably solid material here.

Musically, the riffs proceed with simple progressions during verse sequences and there's always a strong war-ensemble worship going on; traits that have been obviously snatched from  European power metal legends, Manowar, Hammerfall, Blind Guardian, Helloween and lesser dose of US power metal influences, like Griffin, Fates Warning and Jag Panzer, and the band's biggest talent aesthetically is forming thick layers of multi-riff bombardments and adjoining with those of of a more atmospheric, epic tangent, tightly composed structures balancing the who place. Simplistic melodies are used often enough, adorned with a pummeling percussive rhythm system to keep the swing at full momentum, and furthermore, compositions are near-drowning because the album is basically divided three burdened tracks ranging at over ten minutes each, separated into briefer segments, so there's always the risk of the instrumental parts immersing you into boredom, but surprisingly, culminating with a blast of fresh, dark aura, sturdy performance and solid riffs, banality is hardly the case.

Tom Davy has an incredibly accessible and clear vocal performance the whole way through. His voice supports clarity and no matter how the guitars shift from thrashy plummets to atmospheric, mood-laden melody explosions, his tone implies a certain strictness, very neutral, and thanks to him the band is never driven into a cadaverous stupor, or suffers from the entry of any sort of derision. In spite of the general lack of power metal surreal overdose, Burning Shadows still has a handful of tricks; on ''Man From Myth'', for instance, you have a very epic rupture of darkness pervaded by the lyrics and a very catchy range of riffs to support it, and upon further inspection, you'll find yourself deeply immersed in a saturating, straightforward black metal dispersion, which, when enforced by the dazzling enigma of wah-wah pedal, sounds absolutely captivating.

There are still tons of bands in today's scene which deserve attention, and this four-piece is on of them. Whether you had frivolous fun on the debut or not, if you're into carnal thrash excavations and the beautiful clash of melody against ambiguity, you need to grab a banner from the local medieval items stores, rally your bannerman and lead the battle against whatever evil dwells in your neighborhood, ''Gather, Darkness!'' blasting out of the steroids behind you. Colorful and solemn.

Night, with the darkness falling
Hand of Sathanas reigning down
Upon this coven
Bred in secrecy
To the wrath of God we pledge
Suffering and agony
Blessed by the will to end this tyranny

Highlights:

To Ruin & Divide: Kingdoms Fall

To Ruin & Divide: Man From Myth

A Thousand Lies: A New Dark Age

Braking The Sanctuary: The Infamous Down

Rating: 85%

Humanity Delete - Never Ending Nightmares

The promise of grinding, corpulent Swedish death metal is still quite the appetite for many seeking only bare-bones aggression and simplistic glance at this nefarious sub-genre of death metal, and those who truly enjoy these redundant aesthetics should look no further then 'Rogga' Johansson's countless projects which have now literally thrown the world in  a state of heavy metal imbalance. Rogga's probably served more fuzzy, bulky Dismember-esque death metal more than any other individual artist over the last decade, yet, shamefully, only few of his projects really had an impact on the metal universe; the long-lasting horror-themed Revolting, Paganizer, the almighty Putrevore and a couple more. Amid procession of riffs, Rogga is still able to find time to come up with yet another act, something that people who are not so fervent about the idea of crushing repetition will only condone.

Humanity Delete, like all of Rogga's previous projects (except Putrevore) merely alters the grinding, thrashy kick of Swedish death metal, and ultimately consists of twelve brief grind/death ghouls that rend their way through the basics. Rogga is handling all the instruments on this record, and if I had to comment of his musicianship I would call him a strong, seasoned and potent musician, with probably the largest riff artillery among his fellow Swedish musicians, but in truth, his style is not providing thousands of headbanging fans with anything entirely refreshing, he's only, as mentioned, rehashing these obscene ruptures and presenting them in different colored ribbons, the content same. ''Never Ending Nightmares'' has a slightly stronger grindcore impulse than Rogga's other abominations: the songs are always abridged into 2-3 minute convulsions, the tone is grand and vile, the drums keep the listener bobbing his head wildly no matter the simplicity, Rogga's vocals are his classic type, harsh, bulbous gutturals imbued with a tinge of darkness, and he'll also throw in a few classy leads here and there to make a little bit of change.

''Never Ending Nightmares'' is not a bad album. But we've been spoiled so exclusively to the tenets of similar groups over the decade that it's only natural that we seek for a good deal of contrast, and a relatively good record in the least from Rogga, especially after his nightmarish assembly of riffs on ''Macabre Kingdom'', and sadly, this doesn't offer that huge measure of differentiation. But even so, if ''Clandestine'', ''Like An Everflowing Stream'' or ''Dark Recollections'' are among your top old school death metal releases and you have a frantic kick for modernized, primal brute force, and if you've already encountered half a dozen of Rogga's albums, then I can't see why this won't add up to your repugnant collection. Solid stuff.

Highlights:
The Eight Fire Narakas
Necromantic Sorcery
Dismal Corridors

Rating: 77%

Paroxsihzem - Paroxsihzem

As if Canada's bountiful burden of blackened death metal monoliths did not deliver sufficient clangor and cavernous colostomy with their two front running giants Mitochondrion and Antediluvian (not to mention bands with deeper roots like Revenge and Conqueror) was not enough, the nihilistic fog that emerges out of the country-sized tundra continues to epitomize the immensely atmospheric darkness of death metal and diminish whatever futile light remained to kindle the ambiguity by producing megalith after megalith, my latest encounter of this never ending fabrication being Paroxsihzem and their heavyweight bulk of occult blackened death metal. Now signed to Dark Descent Records, the perfect, impious place for them to harbor their bludgeoning strength, the group, like their fellow countrymen loves to produce hollow, reverb-bathed vortexes that flutter through the air we breathe like some suffocating tornado, and with the additional advantages they gain with the chaotic emphasis of murky death/doom immensity, they truly create a force that would puzzle any man in disgust and oblivion.

Comparisons have associated this with the almighty Australian Portal, probably due to the same chaotic textures used in engrossing the cavernous dissonance of the album, but in truth, I tend to find them much more on par with Antediluvian then Portal, because really, the band prefers to exclude technically driven riffs and more competent, convoluted elements, preferring to simply crush in huge resonant waves, and traumatizing death/doom progressions. Incantation would also probably come to mind whenever the brain-tangling mess rises to take a fresh breath of air and morph into much more straightforward lurches, usually thick tremolo passages lead by the commodious cave growls that no doubt reek of Craig Pillard to many. But even with death metal being the essential ingredient here, there is a noticeable black metal mark on certain sections that I cannot help but love. While brief intervals may have a stronger focus on black rather than death from time to time, ''Tsirhcitna'' has a completely overwhelming forlorn infrastructure purely built around the idea condemning the listener with both punishing and pungent atmospheric black metal tremolos and indulgent orgies of chaos that I can only relate, once again, to Antediluvian.

A quick listen may easily mislead a unconcerned listener. ''Paroxsihzem'' had a one-dimensional effect on me when I first have it a spin, but only on further contemplation did its cantankerous start to shine through the simplicity. A few listen to such subjugating experiments like the finalizing ''Aokigahara'' prove that the band still has still plenty of potential that they haven't poured into their cravings on this release, and considering the brilliance of their balance between surgical occult death metal assaults and cthtonic paeans they have a scrofulous formula formulated and their propensity for excelling at discomfiting psychological torment nearly as good as their countrymen and Portal does makes them a shining, or rather shadowing gem. And along with their label-mates Anhedonist, who were outstanding on their early-year debut, Paroxsihzem is easily Dark Descent's most potent weapons. Darkness will never be eschewed.

Highlights:
Nausea
Tsirhcitna
Aokigahara 

Rating: 86,5%

Bonehunter - Turn Up The Evil

Bonehunter are probably one of the more frivolous acts to emerge out of Finland considering the enveloping horde of excellent black metal groups shadowing the country for the last couple of years, so receiving a brief EP from this unknown lascivious trio was admittedly something that I accepted with reluctance. Needless to say that in spite off the cheesy lyrical themes, the primal grooving simplicity of the thrash/crossover punch and the grinning, pedophile shrieks of the vocalist, there was a certain modified beat and hooking simplicity that I could not just discard.

The Finns are hungry, urging for vicious sex and completely frantic; and the only thing ''Turn Up The Evil'' displays a pernicious one-dimensional appetite and a rapid succession of punk-driven black/thrash riffs modernized and augmented with a chunky guitar build, made repugnant with the vocalists evocative bark-like screams that echo pain and ravenous desire throughout. Don't think the simple-minded exposure as a sort of hindrance, because really, it's more of a libation to the likes of Abigail, Barbatos, Possessed, Destroyer 666. The entire thirteen minute span of the EP is an orgy of ruinous levity, and the group only likes to speed up - no abrupt tempo changes, no doom laden gloom, and absolutely no love for melody; just outrageous d-beat precision and percussion rushing into cadaverous ebullition and evil, licentious vulgar at its utmost potential You've simple nihilistic heavy/black barrages like ''War 666'', which is pretty akin to Midnight, or carnage that borders more to cruder black/thrash mayhem, a la Destroyer 666 or perhaps Abigail, the ''street'' face of the music always pervading.

As much as I enjoyed the the raging lust these Finns have, I think there's no need to say that ''Turn Up The Evil'' is not a release you can inspect and contemplate with complete focus on its engrossing features, because this as straightforward as you can get. No modern inclinations and non-human instruments or whatsoever, no reverence for technical/progressive elements, no flashy, ribbons and strips of pulsing enigma to adorn the ghoulish demon-goat on the cover, nothing fancy, basically, just a pack of street-thrashing mongrels hungry for grime and sex, bashing against your ears. Definitely a nice addition to your collection of enlivening punk cannibals.

Highlights:
War 666
Sweet Metal Fuck
Turn Up The Evil

Rating: 75%

Skeletal Remains - Beyond The Flesh

Ever since the release of their debut demo ''Desolate Isolation'', Skeletal Remains has been a band that I've pursued eagerly, awaiting for a fresh, vivid new carnage to leap out of the bush and pummel me into gory, sublime submission, and shortly after the demo, the German old school fervent FDA Recotz bring us the band's debut album, ''Beyond The Flesh'', which is a record I can firmly label as fleshy and vivacious, beefy fucking death metal with a jumpy, crushing groove do it that simply outsmarts the more casual tenets of all the Incantation/Dismember gimmicks emerging amid cavernous brute force. These Californians have specifically appealed to me (and probably other metalheads who find the current death metal trends redundant) due to the influences they pick while churning out their cajoling compositions of flesh. 

Instead of massing riffs akin to ''Onward To Golgotha'' or ''Left Hand Path'', there's a tremendous amount of Pestilence worshiping here, much more prevalent and meticulously formulated than you might think; and entire arsenal of heavyweight chunks and grooves with plummeting drum pattern stretched over it, and moreover, while a the band securely unleashes punishing ''Consuming Impulse''-esque riffs, the anatomy also incorporates plenty of early Death for that gnarly, feverishly vile ebullition of rot and bile, traditional Floridian brutality a la Brutality or Malevolent Creation, hints of Nocturnus circa 1990, and I even tend to hear that gritty technical output of death metal I always hear of Atrocity's brilliant debut, ''Hallucinations''. Surgical technical death/thrash exhumations will usually work as the main progression implement while the wretched Van Drunnen gutturals spurt vitriol all over the place, and to imbue their morbid excavations with a little bit of melody, you'll occasionally be taken with dazzling, blazing lead tides, sweeping with intense, profound melody.

Although this will drive the classic headbanging death metal freak absolutely frantic, one, admittedly can't get too pensive about the characteristics of these frivolous tracks. The monotony is relatively less compared to many of its contemporaries thanks to the clinical attitude and the adventurous ruptures leading the charge with spurious energy, but repetition may still be a semi-hindrance for those who are more considerate about music. True, such expunging angry discharges like ''Extirpated Vitality'' have the potential to obliterate and arouse plenty of attention to use as a sustenance, but the overall quality still needs a little more variation throughout in order to keep the flesh rotten all the time. Ignoring this, ''Beyond The Flesh'' is a better and much less appalling experience than the music critic could ever hope for, and as for critic/die-hard fan hybrids like me, it simply kicks copious amounts of ass. 

Highlights:

Sub-Zero Termination

Reconstructive Surgery

Extirpated Vitality

Rating: 84%

Ysengrin - To Endotaton

To me, the number of French bands that I have relative reverence for is very, very few. Even considering all the bands from the dawn of time as far as metal is concerned, there were only a couple of acts which were able to capture my attention, including the death/thrash massacre Massacra, and few more similar OSDM groups which proved somewhat emergent only during the early 90's, and other than that handful of crude extremes, there's only the current blossoming post/ambient black metal chorus that I eschew from listening, but had a sort of alarming impact on me. With members from the fascinating atmospheric black metal cogitation Darkenhold, Ysengrin, one of my more latter discoveries, completely varying from the fellow countrymen, have injected an addicting hermetic drug into my veins which I can't seem to cleanse myself of; the group formulates a mercurial enigma of death, black and doom, and even more surprising is that they don't deliberately eschew whatever archaic tendencies these three genres have, and throw them into their own, enigmatic concoction which boasts of some of the most refreshing, somber metal I've heard in a long while.

From the very start, ''To Endotaton'' constantly fabricates, intense, almost delusional majestic blackened death/doom, if you want to classify that simply. The entire album is a single, cavernous forty-minute journey into mysterious and occult harmony, the album's innumerable characteristics showing with color and epitomized pulchritude, and this constantly flowing tree of veins always keeps ample provisions of atmospheric deepness, adding a mesmerizing undertone to its eloquent furnace, burning with a calm but fervent fire. Eventually, due to the album's many faces, there will be many who will dub it something else, since, the listener is inflected by whatever attribute has an impact on him/her the most, but as a whole, ''To Endotaton'' incorporates so many different influences of distinct color and variation, that its spectrum eventually bursts and comes out a new, fresh monolith formed of the beautifully charred remains of its predecessors.

I'm glad the album eschews any sort of industrial/technical element that might come to mind, because such an experiment would have surely ruined the organic trance bestowed upon you that I drool so much about. The primary riffs are stationary black/doom progressions, advancing, sometimes, with a great atmospheric splendor, while sometimes simply punishing with  a more swerving complex: dirtier chugs and crispy patterns.  While a surge of mournful, misanthropic riffage struggles through a dense plume of lethargy and desolation, Ysengrin add plenty of revitalizing objects in between mourns to keep the pace active, and somehow fluent. I'm talking about crunchy thrash chugs and Bolt Thrower-esque mid-paced crushers coming in an eerie stampede, and on even rarer occasions you'll hear deliberate tremolo bashing, churning into the semi-epic aura with ease.

While the cavern-riddled utters of the vocalist will often be excluded from significance during the more rapid incursions, the tinging despair of the vocalists light gutturals will probably ignite fires of gripping tension and isolation in clean guitar- dominated sequences, where the Frenchman will present themselves as virtuoso of the dark Spanish lead guitar or simply haunting interludes. No matter how long the entire song is, through the band members' experience and savvy techniques, the tremendous hermetic strength the album holds, and delicately penned compositions, the entrancing archaic mystery that is ''To Endotaton'' exceeds. A highly, highly recommended aperture into morbid darkness. Good job I, Voidhanger, good job.

Highlight:
To Endotaton 

Rating: 90%

War Possession - Through The Ages

Bands have been making so much death metal in their putrid cavern walls and hellish kilns that it's literally impossible to escape from one's clutches, and as it has happened innumerable times, I've once again found myself writing about and unknown retro death metal act the cadaverous contortions their release projects. Once again Hellthrasher Productions bring desolate obscurities to the surface and expose their bitter display of vile bowel-butchery in the possible goriest way. War Possession, like their label mates Resurgence, are a band from Greece that really don't pen material that's gonna spoil the contents of your brain in one ludicrous, ruinous rampage. I'm not gonna go for an in-depth description of the band's obtuse delivery, even though I can safely say it packs one ugly, macabre punch, but if you know what Demigod, Convulse, Bolt Thrower and USDM sounds like, you won't have much trouble imagining the skull-chaffing index of this brief EP.

''Through The Ages'', ranging at some twenty-one minutes, takes relatively different subjects, usually warlike topics, into the music, as you'll see in the cover, which is probably the biggest connection it has to any Bolt Thrower album. The lyrical content aside, War Possession have frothing formula at their hands which they use most efficiently; a putrid, sodden guitar tone with chunky gallops flowing like a torrential stream of gore and blood, brusque tempo changes, and wretched, bile-covered death/doom arsenal, as if some posthumous being starts to gobble up your legs whilst crude utters escape its mouth - it's a horrendous experience while it lasts, but even so, you'll fail to be really revitalized by this emission of mangled flesh. There are moments like the immediate mid-paced groove on ''The Shadow Of The Ancient Gods'' or semi-technical bombast on ''World War Domination'' that got me thinking, and I sank further down with the ghastly, torrid growls the vocalist can manifest, but as far as great sequences goes, those are the only few you'll be able to think, even when baffled by the primitive brute force this hulk can conjure.

Even the poignant melodies evoke some misery in me, but the overall punishment ''Through The Ages'' serves is only gonna do damage. Yes, some pretty immense, rib-splitting collateral damage, yes, but there're definitely much more intelligent death metal acts out there who absolutely make you shed bitter tears as pain swerves and stirs up in your ear than comes out in liquid sustenance for the creator of torture to feed on; and War Possession are not one of those bands. Like I said, I'm still content with what I heard, but if they're not gonna morph into a sensation of chaotic mesmerizing darkness, like violent reflection of their spine-chilling outro ''Deathmarch'', they might as well become experts in their own art, manifesting what has already been manifested with putrid bile and gore. They're definitely gonna need some more arms if they're going to expand their retinue in short notice.

Highlights:
Medieval Bloodlust
World War Domination

Rating: 78%

Black Jesus - Black Jesus Saves

Earlier this year, I was acquainted with Black Jesus, whom produced this killer EP conducted by Australia's very own mini-arsenal, The Coffins Slave, and I was surprised, even though it's made evident by all the OSDM madness going around us, of the quality of such a young act, and now, the grim blasphemers have found the perfect spot to continue to hon their artillery and ruthlessly rivet disgusted attention on themselves as they find the terrific execution spot for modern repugnant bruisers like them to feast; the terrific Hell's Headbangers Records. ''Black Jesus Saves'' is, despite all of simple features, an oblique death metal observation, belonging to both the primordial grindcore finesses of Repulsion and Terrorizer, and the more straightforward death metal footings of the bands from the same era, some Bolt Thrower circa 1988-1989, Benediction, Cancer and ''Altars Of Madness'' era Morbid Angel, all contained with frothing rage that exposes them maliciously.

Much like the grotesque demon-pope arousing gruesome energy to its befouled minions, emerging from a rotten stockpile of viscera and blasphemy, the music is disgusting. Black Jesus obtains the perfect balance between mid-paced lurches, pure grindcore fueled aggression and stockier tremolo barrages, and despite the brevity of each track and the entire EP, the band dishes out multiple variants of pain and repugnance, and provides a crude consistence and platform to plow upon for the duration. And the vocals too are horrific, almost vampiric growls that only aggravate the sickened condition of the riffs, bile erupting as the tremolos race through your ears. ''Black Jesus Saves'' may still remain somewhat generic compared to its annual components who have festered and befouled many deaf ears, but it has a great, frivolous deadliness to it which I can't easily free myself from, especially after hearing the nebulae-caked dirty thrash chugs they can conjure on ''Atrocity Generator''.

For now, the band remains victorious with only a small compendium of riffs at their hand, but with further endeavors they may be able to join ranks with modern cadaver grinders including Tormented, Revolting and their newly formed label mates Gouge, who also have great fervor for a very similar style. Releases like this come very often (and I think that's made obvious by now) but most revivalists tend to drag us on and on with sleep-injecting drudgery, and I certainly do love it when bands like Black Jesus can fabricate through simple brute accuracy; fresh and deadly splashes of rocking, rank old school death metal. An easily recommended experience for fans of semi-submersed, spurious death/grind, and +1 for Australia and The Coffins Slave.

Highlights:
Atrocity Generator
Black Jesus Saves
The Devouring

Rating: 81%

Engulfed - Through The Eternal Damnation

I really don't feel very zealous talking about bands which imitate the infinitely favored fashion of semi-subterranean subconscious adorning cavern-entranced hollows of desolation, simply described as Incantation worship, but I definitely get a flashing tinge of excitement when I dig out a band I dig which actually comes from my home country, Turkey, and please, throughout this review, excuse my exaggeration and fervor for one of the newer bestial burden-carriers of the futile scene; Engulfed. As you may understand, Turkey is one of those countries which absolutely cannot muster bands that can race with their global contemporaries, and given that harsh fact, the clamorous nebulae that Engulfed ruptures is actually quite professional and, being frank, well done. An inimical surge of beloved rancid death metal fitting over the hallow holes of cavernous gore-scribbled thrashy discharge is all that can be craved from the band's four song EP, but hell, it's hard not getting pleasure out of it.

Despite taking Incantation as the main aural focus, Engulfed do not deliberately eschew any other aesthetics that could riddle the dark clangor in a vacuous semi-enigma. The same crushing, tremolo-laced patterns remain as the signature element, but furthermore, the band does not bring fourth a jaded experience upon the table. The riffs are thrown out in a vigorous succession at the listener, which emanates a dynamic texture to all of the faster riffing, and even the doomy sections have subtle vigor to them, and the primary reason to the  formula is that the guitars haven't been over-enhanced and bulked up like some stuffed animal or any of the other acts in the same area for that matter, ultimately projecting a nicely executed blast of energetic dense tremolos shuffled and stirred with a tasty hint of USDM sordidness.

This formula is, in  a way what I'd like to call a cheat, because the riffs deliver outstanding punishment while sticking to the brute chugging techniques of USDM and the tremolo ruptures of ''Onward To Golgotha'', a rather beguiling experience for fervent fans of both sub-genres. And, I almost forgot about the doom department. While half of the EP gets gets banging to a dexterous groove, the other half lives off the continues drudgery it produces, a trudging line of misanthropic death/doom paralleling the more voluptuous quadrant. The doom, of course did not have a massive effect on me the way bands which directly focus on the scrofulous art intrigue me, but there's still a good deal of emphasis on the matter, meaning the tempos won't always be channeling the speed factor relentlessly. These are some solid, fortifications churned out with melody, one guitar working on the dispersing chords while the other exhales, slowly. And thus, Engulfed's fervor has bought them a deal with the old school death metal maniacs Hellthrasher Productions, and future releases, hopefully, will have a positive effect on me. For this EP, don't expect much, but you'll still have a morbid-as-fuck time dealing with its sparse and crushing tentacles.

Highlights:
Supreme Lord Of Blasphemy
Triumph Of The Impious

Rating: 80%