Embrional - The Devil Inside [2015]

Polish death metal trope Embrional put out a fairly impressive debut with 2012's ''Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors'' which was arguably among the 'better' offerings of brutal or technical death metal that came out that year, even though stylistically the Poles possess a whim that doesn't quite fit either camp. Of course we can all thank fuck for the Polish scene smothering and festooning us with quality upon quality of neck-braking excursions of death metal, be it Vader, Behemoth's latest, Lost Soul, Decapitated or the less know Deivos, and also for the fact that Embrional hasn't gone astray after the success of their debut. A reasonably unctuous nod at both the old and the new school, ''The Devil Inside'' keeps the pace of its predecessor, with all its mechanized devilry and didactic, old school-oriented precision, though it may have also left me in some degree of dismay along the way while failing to excavate anything novel on the way...

In other words, the gratifying suspense and novelty of the debut has somewhat faded with the sophomore, naturally of course, but you'd think that the Poles would have carved a fresher niche in 3 years for the whole serving. This is grotesque, intense proto-brutal death metal which I imagine garners much of its aesthetics from the Floridian scene of the 90's, as it's very reminiscent of Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Hate Eternal, but with also the beckoning, thrashy technicality of Pestilence or Cynic if I had to take it to such a degree, yet the Poles masterfully retain the primal, urban grime that had made their debut such a cankered cake feast for me in the first place, with enough smudge, distortion and bizarrely spidery riff patterns to creep out even more resilient ears. At the same time, the Poles are certainly never 'brutal' to the extent that I'd equate them with the heavier material of Corpse, even though I highly doubt they weren't influenced by the creeping monstrosity of some of the riffs on ''Bloodthirst''. Surgical but never unnecessarily bombastic or overloaded with worn down chugs or insipid, soulless guitar sweeps and wankery, I love that there is still a sense of trauma and suspense to this record almost as much as there was to the debut, like an industrial anthem empowering cannibalistic corpses from their maggot-infested cemetery.

The vocals are always there, a sinister growl that certainly feels more capaciously evil and absorbing than most forced cookie monster growls, and it helps that every aspect of the music gets a fair share in the mix so that the guitars aren't up front and the drums actually have an earthen texture to them despite being quite impressive, so that they don't sound like mechanized cinder blocks pounding your ear drums vociferously; the graven mantra of a mid 90's death metal record can be traced here if carefully listened through, even if the production have values have a naturally high ramp to them. Yet the debut was far from perfect to begin with. There are hindrances here that unfortunately don't go unheard, such as the lack of depth in the riff-craft. All told, I do love the kind of clinical yet caustic riffing the Poles propagate, yet at the same time I couldn't help but feel that they were somewhat worn out in that department since there wasn't a whole lot of variety between the tremolos, the death/thrashing breakdowns and the more mechanical pickings. ''The Devil Inside'' is an uncouth human grater, efficient and consistently enjoyable, but it's a grater gone a tad rusty, especially after 2-3 spins. Nevertheless, besides that, as well as the utterly disposable and clumsily named ''Whores, Drugs and Brain Dead'', with such great tracks as ''Evil's Mucus'', or the vorpal ''Callousness'', this is a veritable slaughterhouse of culinary hypnosis and mathematical nightmares which fans of carnal death metal, old and new alike, ought not miss.

Highlights:
Evil's Muckus
The Abyss
Callousness

Rating: 75% 

Embrional - Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors

Never once have I omitted the wonderful Polish death metal of the 90's and secluded them from all the other wonderful scenes which flowered at that time, and admittedly, it's hard to forget with such bands like Vader, Magnus, Schismatic and Danger Drive, thus the scene today seems to be dotted with bands exploiting relatively diverse and differing styles of their own. Perhaps it's still not as dominant a tyrant than the Swedish or American scene, but whether it's the atmospheric swaggers of Pandemonium, the crushing momentum of Centurion or rather straightforward approach of Embrional, the scene houses a number of quality bands, readying themselves to squirt and explosive barrage of death metal. Embrional may be closer to straightforward death metal territory compared to the other acts I've mentioned, though the sporadic attachment of queer melodies and intricate deliveries of sharp, piercing notes garnish their Floridian sound much more. Embrional's sophomore is an onset that will strike you, break you and dazzle you before you can even raise your shield to guard yourself.

While the cover art may teem with filthy maggots of crude death metal, their style actually stands as a polished aspect of the music, disabling any raw quality that you had hoped to hear before you were just glimpsing at the album art. However, there's still a satisfying face of this sudden change in events. The ceremonial art of decapitating ghouls and digging grotesque graves may be gone, but I can't agree that this fully polished, either, and especially for a band who can muster so many outbursts of vigorous combustion with little depression or oppression hidden under the riffs, a frigid aura of old school brilliance is a huge bonus for the band, even though the listener may only be able to taste glimpses of it. Embrional have been inspired from Floridian acts like Cannibal Corpse, Malevolent Creation and Deicide, adding a fair amount of thrash crust to the blasting barrage of half-technical riffs, enhanced by the amount of intensity and brutality. The drums are almost always of double-bass mode, never ceasing to slam in with the right beat and the guitars slide on a slimy trail of ooze, grinding, chopping, trimming with razor sharp tremolo bursts and diminished chord sequences. Maintaining the level of speed and intensity should be the least of your worries, because with such eerie passages of strident riffs controlling the direction of the album, you'll gladly headbang until your neck can literally take no more.

Tracks like ''Bestial Torture'' and ''Possessed By Evil'' are absolutely monstrous tracks, crypt fiends that waste no time lingering around and just get on with the ruthless decapitation process, evil and sordid as it can be. And what about the groove-laden thumps of ''Maniacal Madness''? The song's a beast on its own, but the classic drum/guitar cooperation is now sprinkled with tiny segments of palm muted notes, like a scorpion crawling and escalating towards your skull, and slowly tearing off a dot of flesh with its mechanic pincers. The whole album is an absolute manifestation of hateful riffs like these and each riff is diminished in length, lasting for a second, them passing the honor to its brother, which fades away a second later. The riffs are so mechanic and so intricate that it may hard to focus on them at times, and the great thing about Embrional is that they can keep that level of intensity and velocity canned (though not lacking liveliness) so that the music doesn't even border to brutal technical death metal, all thanks to the carnal explosions of old school goodness. So many bands are rehashing their masters yet they almost always end up inferior too the beast they were copying, but Embrional's sophomore is inventive, strict, malicious and it never lacks fuel for the fire. A mighty fine effort that exceedingly solid, but still outrageously vigorous. At first you hesitate, but you learn to like it.

Highlights:
Bestial Torture
Last Step Into Nothing
Possessed By Evil

Rating: 85,5%


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