Sirrah - Did Tomorrow Come... (1997)

I would be remiss to think of anything possibly quirkier than the track "Panacea" from Sirrah's debut, but I think in general, it's follow-up full-length Did Tomorrow Come... is much more progressive and quirky, while still keeping a lot of its fundamentals intact. You can still hear a lot of elements of anything from My Dying Bride to Paradise Lost to Pyogenesis to Moonspell, but the Polish band was not settling its butt down on any laurels, but writing that style into the future. Upbeat, peppy, perky ideas are strewn throughout the ten tracks, and the band seem unwilling to be pigeonholed into any one niche. I'd almost risk that Did Tomorrow Come... is like Sirrah, only Arcturus got ahold of it and infected it with their zany carnival attitude.

The production is cleaner here, really giving us better access to its scattershot components, from the ethereal female vocal lines to the busier guitars which at times almost border on a blend of thrash and doom metal. Synthesizers are used sparingly, as well as pianos, and the majority of the vocals bounce between the guttural expectations and then a wavier, sad or drugged sounding cleaner male vocal that is perhaps one of the weakest parts of the album. Perhaps due to the accent or confidence level, but there are moments that it sounds quite good, and others where it feels like its lost the plot. Regardless, it's only a minor intrusion that can't quite mar the surface of the obvious excitement below this. It's like the band was listening to their first album and decided not to sound so sad anymore, and gave each other a kick in the rump while they were in the studio, or maybe just a lot of drugs. To its credit, though, the writing doesn't lose a whole lot of impact from where they were at two years prior.

It doesn't have a truly standout track for me like "Acme", but at the same time, there's not really anything goofy like "Panacea" to spoil it. The closest might be "Madcap" which sounds like someone took the orchestration from the old Celtic Frost Into the Pandemonium... album and combined that with a strange Gothic chamber quartet, but in fact that song's tremendous fun. The closer, "Floor's Embrace", starts off pulsing off like it's going to be some mix of dance and folk music, but that one is rescued quite quickly when the great guitar riff rips forth. Did Tomorrow Come... is fascinating stuff, despite me not liking a few of the vocals, it's quite sticky and a superior experience to Acme only if you're willing to chuck your expectations to the curb and revel in its unique boldness. Had Sirrah continued on much longer, who knows what they might have become? I could certainly hear them hobnobbing with the likes of Arcturus, Solefald, Sigh or Diablo Swing Orchestra. This is a fun album that too few give a damn about.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

Sirrah - Acme (1996)

Like a lot of folks, I was introduced to Sirrah through one of the Beauty in Darkness compilations that Nuclear Blast released; the title track to this debut featured prominently as one of the standouts there, and I had to track down the full-length debut of the same name, Acme, a name which I'm sure we associate more with the old Roadrunner and Wile E Coyote cartoons than Gothic, melancholic doom. I was taken aback by the songwriting itself, there is a bit more involved, a few more layers to peel back than you might be used to, and not unlike the first two Moonspell records, this had a more epic feel than some of the stuff coming from Theater of Tragedy or The Sins of Thy Beloved. In fact, the great use of rhythms and melody also reminded me of one of my favorite albums, Amorphis' Elegy, only if it were coming from a different background perspective than Finland and 70s prog and folk influence.

Well, that one particular track, "Acme", is magnificent even to this day, one of the more glorious individual tracks to emerge from that once-budding European scene, but it's hardly the only success this disc had to offer. The blend of higher pitched, catchy female vocal lines, mournful Goth growls, lighter toned keyboards, strings ("Bitter Seas"), and electric guitar melodies is very well honed across much of the album's playlength, and even where they drop out a bit of it and get darker with something like "On the Verge", reminiscent of earlier Paradise Lost had Fernando Ribeiro replaced Nick Holmes. You've got all those elements of Romance, Vampiric drama, and haunted castle vibes that you might have desired from Gothic/doom or even black metal, but configured in a slightly different package, perhaps due to minor cultural or regional aesthetics that the band members grew up with. Clearly this was much different than what Vader or Behemoth were coming up with, and further showcased Poland as a potential new hotbed for various sub-genres of metal.

There is one GLARING miscalculation on the album that will have you falling apart in laughter, but sadly to the detriment of Acme as a whole, and that is "Panacea", a track which resembles some old surf or cruise rock only if it were a gaggle of Gothic weirdos riding the waves. It's likely included to be a bit of harmless fun and break up the seriousness of the other material, but the rest is consistent enough that it just sticks out like a very sore thumb. That sort of thing might have fit the band Ghoul on their albums, which are quite silly all around, but it just doesn't belong here. In fact I'm shocked it wasn't omitted from further pressings, although this one hasn't gotten much action beyond the 90s whatsoever. Without that track, this is a stronger effort, but even with that warning, you owe it to yourself to check out Acme if you have any interest in that brief period where the sounds of the big British death/doom trio (Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema) were blended with Goth orchestration and drama to create a wave of fresher bands.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

Cultes des Ghoules - Sinister, or Treading the Darker Path (2018)

I can confidently state that Cultes des Ghoules are one of the finest bands out there at channeling the primitive essence of black metal into something truly nightmarish and fresh, even if that 'something' requires a degree of patience for its occasionally languid plot and pacing. They offer a parallel to the conventional, a funereal escapism that reeks of ritual and authenticity, and Sinister, or Treading the Darker Path is one of the most evil records in their discography. Granted, not all of their output sits equally with me...their debut album and some of their shorter form releases still evade my attention span, but when they're on, like with 2013's Henbane, or this latest album, they offer an experience like few others can, some of the better primitive metal you'll ever encounter.

Raw, glacial paced riffs trudge along repeatedly here in "Children of the Moon", glazed in ominous if sparse organs that add much to the weight and creepiness without needing more than a single chord or two. The drums are played with a hypnotic, basic groove to them that will leave the draw the listener in despite their criminal simplicity. The vocals of Mark of the Devil can only be compared to Big Boss of Root, only here they are intonated as more of a pure aural ritual, like a tormented specter creeping through an abandoned manor or church, warning all of the woe at their own ends. But the Polish band is just as comfortable with the shoe on the other foot, picking up speed with "The Woods of Power" or the excellent riffing "Day of Joy" that shifts between the two. They can also twist this into something even stranger as in "Where the Rainbow Ends" with its truly ominous vocals, slim but catchy bass grooves and proggy structure that grows quite psychedelic and ritualistic in its depths.

Like many 'experiential' metal albums, you'll want to set the mood for this one...as dark as possible, your only light by moon or candle, at your most downcast and foul, and just breathe it all in, its sanguine and opaque haze of atmospheric cruelty. It's depressive, frightening and almost sounds like something you ought not to have stumbled across...whether in the woods, or in an alley, or a cellar being used for something unspeakable. A formidable offering from one of the few bands out there that truly sounds like it doesn't give a damn about letting any trends or joy rub off on it, and for me this is their second strongest effort to date.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://cultesdesghoulesofficial.bandcamp.com/

Inhumanity Vortex - Reverse Engineering EP (2020)

Inhumanity Vortex (renamed from Inhumanity) is a one-man Polish project which has been feeling around with a handful of demos for over a decade now, but is now finally getting off to a more 'official' sort of release through this six-track EP. The brainchild of guitarist/writer Tomasz Dziekoński, he has added a handful of session musicians to really round out the intensity on exhibition, including Kévin Paradis, the current drummer of French brutes Benighted. The result here is an EP that feels a lot more professional and polished than you might expect, which delivers a consistent and level pummeling but just enough of a more complex musical flavor that you'll find a lot of interesting twists and turns if you're compelled by that more progressive end of the death metal spectrum.

I suppose a lot of folks might refer to this as 'cyber death metal', and thematically or sonically that isn't far off, but it's far less focused on industrial or electronic components as a group like Fear Factory. There are some synthesizers and other programming bits involved, but at its core this is neck jerking, frenetic death metal which is possessed of both style and groove, and science fictional concepts which feel as if the music actually represents them pretty well. Groups like Cynic, Obscura, Decapitated, Gorod, and Gorguts came to mind, or perhaps Pestilence if you were to mix up their Spheres album with the more modern groove aggression of a Doctrine or Obsideo. Busy guitars that involve lots of dissonant tones blended into the palm muting ferocity, and often erupt into spurious and fitting leads. Just enough futuristic effects are added to keep you in mind of its futuristic leanings, but there's a time and a place for them and for much of the duration they're just committed to a more consistent, bludgeoning effect. While the bass sounds good and is fitting to the mix, and the gutturals, if a little monotonous, also complement the style well, this is really all about those guitars and Paradis' drums, which are both awesome.

Rhythmically, the five heavier tracks here differentiate themselves rhythmically while still flowing well on the whole, but I was also really digging the instrumental "Through the Infinite", which brings out more of the guitar synthesizer and cultivates a more epic feel than its neighbors, obviously implied with the title. While this one might not have suffered at all from having vocals layered on it, their absence does come with a degree more creativity that was appreciated. On the whole, though, if you're into the school of modern/tech death but don't have any use for excessively wankery, perhaps enjoying that sense of fleeting futurism a lot of groups like Neuraxis used in the 90s and 00s, then Reverse Engineering is worth a listen. It's not always catchy, but it's pretty damn solid, and kept under control to provide an effective impact without any need for flashy frivolities and masturbatory over-indulgence. Inhumanity Vortex knows its business, and with a bit more experimentation and variety, perhaps a little more experience with melody against the harder hitting tunes, this has all the potential of a standout act.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/inhumanityband

Labyrinth Entrance - Monumental Bitterness (2017)

Labyrinth Entrance is a solo project from a member of Poland's Stillborn, and for a one-man act it's got a high level of polish and production values that you don't simply associate with your stock bedroom or basement black metal act. Monumental Bitterness is split into six cantos, the first of which is a brief, ambient intro that seems to set up the band's namesake as it cedes into broad, patient, minimalist guitar elements and bass plucks that then assemble into the heaviness proper, which as it turns out, continues along a more slow to moderately paced course throughout most of its run time. I could dub this a Polish spin on the slower, glorious aesthetics that were prevalent in the original Greek BM scene, only with a darker mood about it that is split up only with brief strings of starlight.

A lot of the album could be characterized as blackened doom as it really clings to its moderate speeds, and this really allows each of the riffs to be fully felt in the listener's gut, but the riff set itself is quite broad, from eerie, winding dissonant riffs to more accessible chord patterns and captivating melodies that manage not to ever come off too sugary or positive. Vocals range from the expected harsh barks, to cleaner chants, even some effects-driven vocals that sound robotic in "Canto I", or murky subterranean echoes ("Canto III"). The riffs often devolve into patterns of frightening, droning ambiance ("Canto II"), which quite coolly set up the further metallic elements. Overall, the musician known here as Hunger does an impressive job of varying up his content so the 6-8 minute tracks have a lot of nuance to them and never become sprawling monuments to boredom. The project continues to live up to its brand as you can never be quite sure what will be lying around any of its corners, so you're best to keep 40 minutes of string handy as you explore its depths.

It's not all a crawl, as the closing piece hammers down some moderate blast beats, but even then you never get the sense that Monumental Bitterness is ever concerned with its velocity as it much as it is fleshing out every moment with appropriately bleak atmosphere. The focus here is ever on the guitars and vocals, the rhythm section has its moments, but is primarily a more mechanical bedrock to support the album's more creative ideas; the few exceptions are when the drum work gets more tribal and thunderous, providing for some of its better beats. Overall though I have few gripes, while there aren't a lot of truly memorable riff patterns or vocal lines, the material as a whole congeals into a moderately gripping experience, a subversion of slower to medium black metal much like Stillborn is a bit out in left field for the more intense death/black assault. Struggling a little to find comparable bands to this, but I think if you enjoyed the most recent pair of albums from Norway's Svartelder then you'd want to check it out, or the more modern Varathron stuff like Untrodden Corridors of Hades and Patriarchs of Evil.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/monumental-bitterness

Deivos - Casus Belli (2019)

Long one of the more dependable second tier acts on the Polish death metal circuit, Deivos have now been in existence for over 20 years with no end in sight. Now, when I refer to them as 'second tier', I refer only to popularity, because if I'm being honest these guys are every bit an equal to many of the better known, veteran bands from the States or elsewhere, and Casus Belli is nothing nearing a letdown if you've been following them since their more transitional works like 2010's Gospel of Maggots. Like a number of bands on their scene, Deivos exist in a happy medium between the more brutal and technical death metal acts and those who follow the songwriting aesthetics of the late 80s and early 90s, although they don't quite subscribe to the more creepy, old school tremolo picking vibes or Swedish guitar tones and d-beat rhythms so eminent in this domain.

Basically it's as if they were a parallel evolution to what the New York death metal crews like an Immolation or Suffocation were doing in the earlier 90s, but extremely well balanced in terms of composition and dynamics. Loads of bludgeoning palm muted rhythms fired off at a number of clips both moderate and hyperspeed, but the band is never afraid to slow down for a few dreary, doomed passages where the chords are given more space to breathe. The footwork on the drums is intense, a lot of double kick and blast beats effortlessly wrought to carry along the frenzied guitars, and the guy uses his full kit, lots of skilled fills and higher pitched percussion to match the thunder. They splatter quality little lead guitars all over the place that help maintain a level of variation, balance and atmosphere that might be lost if they were simply charging forward in their battering rhythms to fill out every second of space on the disc. While the rhythms aren't extremely technical, they're just busy enough and non-generic enough that they keep your attention while they are clobbering away, and then the band will shift into some morbid chords that ramp up the evil.

The vocals are pretty straightforward as they always have been, syncopated gutturals that match in very well with the drumming and chugging, but still pretty sincere and gruesome if you actually listen to them closely. What surprised me were a few groovy little riffs (as in "Victims") which reminded me of vintage efforts from their countrymen Decapitated, you know, from back when that band was really good and had something inspiring going. In every vortex of blasting and pummeling across this entire album there is usually one or two sections waiting in the depths that will ramp up the catchy and thus make all the aggression surrounding them more impressive on the whole. Casus Belli is certainly one of the stronger efforts they've put out alongside Gospel of Maggots and Demiurge of the Void, and further cements the band's legacy of consistency...outside of the giants like Vader and Behemoth, you'll only find a few on the Polish scene that could throw down with  Deivos on an album to album basis. So if you're into Lost Soul, Calm Hatchery, or Decapitated and have somehow missed out, make the correction!

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://deivos.bandcamp.com/

Erebos - Pesta kommer (2018)

Pesta kommer's biggest obstacle is that it's a very cool black metal record entangled with an entirely mediocre dungeon synth album. Its second biggest obstacle is that those lush, beautiful melodic black metal components lack vocals to embellish them...not that this is a complete dealbreaker, mind you, but you can't help but to think that an entire album with the memorable qualities of the opening title track, laden in atmospheric rasps, would really have driven this one to the phenomenon level. So desperate and catchy are those guitar riffs that they deserve a little bit more than what they're served up alongside here, and it's a shame the sole musician behind this project didn't feel the same.

Now, don't mistake me, not all the synthesizer parts are a bust. Where they flow to and from the metal parts they are actually quite nice. When they aim for a more militant atmosphere, as in the second tune, they are also pretty passable. But several of them fizzle out with exceedingly repetitious key lines, fit to their genre, but nothing that you haven't heard or that you'll really want to listen through much afterwards. It lacks the creepy medieval tones and ambiance of a lot of the classics in that field, and brings relatively little to the table other than sounding like incidental music from a B-grade video game or historical TV show. Once the music stirs back into those emotional, bleeding tremolo picked guitar lines, which are just so richly executed over the drums and chords, you'll wish that the album featured far more of them, rather than leaving some tracks void of them.

Production is overall very good, on either stylistic end, but once more the metal really shines above its pure synthesized counterpart due to the layering of the guitars. The absence of vocals might not actually prove so bad for some, I just think that it doesn't reach the maximum impact it might have, despite its inherent excellence. A tragedy, because a half dozen songs that good, maybe interspersed with some more formidable, memorable synthesizer segues would be all the rage with fans into groups like Summoning, Druadan Forest, Eldamar, and Caladan Brood, while an album with the quality black metal alone would make ripples with the atmospheric, nature-themed black metal audience.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://erebos1349.bandcamp.com/

Squash Bowels - Grindvirus (2009)

Poland is another heartland for grinders of the gorier persuasion, and Squash Bowels have proven one of the more enduring of their carnal connoisseurs, with 25 years experience and a long laundry list of pulverizing splits and albums. Plus they've just got one of those band names that sticks out to you, probably for all the bad reasons, because who hasn't felt this way about their digestive system after catching a stomach flu or eating some very, very wrong?! It's a bit of a surprise, considering their name, that a lot of their lyric focus in the past hasn't necessarily been all that gross, but their 2009 effort Grindvirus definitely has a slight waft of scatological violence about it, although not attaining the stench levels that many of their peers do on a regular basis.

It's hard not to label this Napalm Death worship, because really they just have so much in common with those British Godfathers of grind that you could interchange a lot of their riffs and vocal patterns and not know the difference, especially from the period around Death by Manipulation, Harmony Corruption or Utopia Banished. Perhaps not a direct clone, because there are a few differences, like the meatier production used by Squash Bowels, and a guttural vocal that has a little more personality than Barney's muffled roars. They also do some slower groove parts that almost sound like nu metal (as in the parts of "D.I."), primarily because of how those riffs are paced with the lower tuning. But when they're belting out one of those downtrodden, brutal fast riffs they sound exceedingly close to the source of their genre, and to me that was one of the limitations. I can't pick out a single riff on this entire album that was remotely interesting or unique, they're all par for the course, no matter how much of a thick, crushing production they are given as they repeatedly pummel the fuck out of your ears.

Maybe the issue is that my expectations are too high for this style? I mean I hear a group like fellow Poles Antigama, who keep their riffs quite compelling and establish a unique mood for the genre, or even Nasum, who succeeded by tossing a healthy heaping of catchy d-beat Swedish death metal into their grind-matrix...and I'm on board. But here on Grindvirus there just isn't anything a lot by which I can distinguish them. Don't mistake me, the production here is quite good, the energy is obvious, and they have a lot of the veteran hallmarks, even some pretty cool cover artwork. This is even put out here through Willowtip Records. I'm sure folks over at the Euro festivals can mosh the shit out of this material, but all I get here is 28 minutes of battery that doesn't really endure even in the midst of experiencing it.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

https://squash-bowels.bandcamp.com/

Morthus - Over the Dying Stars (2016)

Over the Dying Stars is an album with a lot going for it that just doesn't seem to resonate with me for long. I think it has something to do with how the record divides its time pretty evenly between both the melodic black and death metal genres, but rarely does it seem to excel in either category. From the outset, it's an appealing looking album with good cover art, and hails from a scene that has long produced triumphant extremities in both of these extreme metal categories. It's also out through Witching Hour Productions, local to the band in Poland, a label which has produced quite a lot of killer material over the years, often surprisingly so. But when I actually sit through the music here it just comes off rather standard.

Not that this has anything to do with the band's skill level. They can blast away at the kit and offer up barrages of chords and streaming tremolo picked notes satisfying enough to the purist, while also taking a few chances to alternate into slower, spacious sections where you'll feel more of the bass fill and can set up something dramatic. Occasionally the riffs get a bit more grimy and groovy, simplified to a near-crust level, and in others it almost feels like primitive melodic death circa the early 90s. I also found they were able to generate some excitement with transitions and breaks, but these are too often neutered when there aren't any great riffs to follow. The drums are heavy as hell, and the bass is pretty audible in the mix, but they don't add a lot to the constantly driving, predictable personality of some of the material, although if you want consistency I can promise they bring that.

The vocals are decidedly death metal, shifting between a couple different guttural timbres, some of which are fleshy and gruesome, or placed at a point where the  others being a lot more bland, blunt instruments. Other voices are often employed for backup shouts so there's a bit of variation there that helps compensate from how that main brute growl leaves you underwhelmed. All told, I don't want to leave too much of a negative impression, Morthus are certainly proficient at what they're playing, they simply don't offer up much for me here by way of interesting note progressions, savage or evil fare that makes me want to keep listening though the disc. It would really only take a few tweaks to more interesting tremolo guitar line, or atmospheric contrasts that transform them from a decent act to something with a lot more impact. Over the Dying Stars just seems to stand somewhere in the middle of a very long line of similar groups (from both genres) who have done it better.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://morthusofficial.bandcamp.com/

Redemptor - Arthaneum (2017)

Though I've glossed over their material in the past, Poland's Redemptor really knew how to make an impression with this third full-length, and to distance themselves aesthetically from a good number of their countrymen. Technical and dynamic, theirs is a sound which is not easy to predict or pigeonhole, although the broader strokes are of a semi-brutal brand of death metal which relies on extreme drumming, guttural vocals, and churning guitars that focus on a lot of spatial chugging, lower octave chords and jangling, dissonant upper strings for atmospheric embellishment. Arthaneum might not thrive entirely on independence from the tenets of its genres, but there's no question this was one of the more adventurous death metal records in 2017 and one that should perk a lot of ears if they can divert themselves away from the trending nostalgia-driven bands.

The first track alone was enough to hook me, "Éminence Grise" a swell of strings and synthesizers that rolled into these brick-work double bass batteries and vile guitars before dropping back into these more airy, ambient instruments. When Redemptor get heavy, there are some clear parallels to bands like Morbid Angel, in how they can so effortless shift between these alien, slower sections and then explode into brief blasting spasms, but there's also a choppy sense of clinical death/thrash which they implement to bind the two other temporal poles into one, and then they permeate all this with bends, wails, and whatever tricks they can to keep the ear performing acrobatics to keep up. Riff-wise, they are quite fulfilling, bouncing between sinister note progressions and warmer, melodic phrasings, but I also have to say here that I don't know if there was another record of this type I've heard lately which tested out so many tempos, rhythmic syncopations and riff styles while somehow managing to rein it all in to a cohesive, single-band experience. Every bridge throughout the album, every 'chorus', and every verse is exploring the border parameters they've established, rather than just sitting in the center of the fucking box.

The proficiency is staggering, not because they show off but because they transition so smoothly between all these insane passages, molding a dystopic atmospheric wasteland. Leads are boundless in potential but kept in check with bluesy melodies or tonal shifts into prog shredding that don't wreck the songs surrounding them. It's a band that can not only sate fans of tech gods like Decrepit Birth, Gorguts, and Gorod, but those who really just want interesting, well rounded death metal which doesn't come across as remotely cliche. The lyrics are intelligent, philosophic and might come off as some mumbo-jumbo, but certainly meaningful to the band which wrote them, and a tune like "Semantic Incoherence" lacks nothing for poetic imagery and phrases. The production is clean and rich but pummeling to the gut at the same time, so much flying around but it's all easy to ingest and distinguish from the other instruments and growls. The sum Arthaneum experience might not be the most memorable in the entire death metal lexicon, but it should certainly make some fucking waves if there's an ounce of justice in the death metal underground. Killer album.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (fragile and wicked acts)

https://www.facebook.com/RedemptorPL

Antigama - Depressant EP (2017)

Antigama have always been one of European grind's strongest advocates and ambassadors towards the future, applying slightly more technicality and modernity to a style that often feels as if it's simply composed of too few tricks and variations. Experimenting with chords, atmospheres, and note progressions that aren't so easy to predict in their frenetic presentation, the Polish band manages to somehow find a style to themselves but rarely repeat a lot of the minute details that go into each composition, while never coming close to abandoning the fundamentals that so many listeners will recognize from their early exposure to Napalm Death, Extreme Noise Terror, Terrorizer, Agathocles, and the like.

The Depressant EP hits you straight up with a concept on its cover, a RELEVANT concept, which isn't just mindless political shillery, and then frames it with the sample opening to "Empty Paths", a labyrinthine assault of dissonant guitars and head-spinning blast work adorned in snarls, protracted screams, and yeah guys I gotta mention the drumming a second time in this sentence because it's utterly fucking sick. For a 2-ish minute tune, the band's specialty here on anything but the title cut, they certainly pack in a lot of beating, a lot to think about, and ultimately something more worth revisiting than your average sped-up 4-chord hardcore/punk configuration which has to depend all too much on a charismatic barker. Antigama has the vocals AND everything else in check, with a musical delivery that is for all purposes flawless across the instruments, but never wanky, showy or unapproachable beyond the sheer intensity that this genre unleashes upon your ears.

They also know how to thrive in these post-modern or industrial-feeling elements, through the voice effects or samples or just the odd chords that embellish cuts like the opening of "Room 7" with a loose, jazzy guitar feel. The ambient passages constructed here, like the first minute of "Depressant" itself, or the interesting way they launch the percussion in the finale "Shut Up", make you feel like you're wandering these cold-lit passages of modern living, where each of your steps is guided by debt, family and societal pressures, regrets, guilts. In fact they do such a good job on this element that I wouldn't be opposed to hearing them put out a purely contemporary industrial/ambient record with even smaller flourishes of grinding where they would do the most impact. They've really been on an incline with their prior full-lengths, Meteor nudging past Warning, and The Insolent hitting a new summit, and the material here is no exception, standing roughly even with that latest full-length in breadth and quality, just a slick, interesting and effective 19 minutes of 21st century grind. The blue pill is not even an option here.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.facebook.com/Antigama

Damnation - Resist (2000)

By the later 90s, death metal had been inundated with so many more accessible traits via heavy and thrash metal that it might have made a lot of sense for an underground group like Damnation to boost their signal, but to their credit the only thing they really cleaned up here at all was arguably the production values. More than any of their albums prior, Resist feels like a gestalt of the Floridian extreme death that went into the band's older albums, primarily of the Morbid Angel or Malevolent Creation variety, with a few Deicide rhythms, but it also maintains that mild sense of atmosphere and experimentation they had used before with the admission of a few scant ambient/instrumental passages to flesh out the faster, harsher fundamentals employed.

The record is essentially a lot of jerky, tremolo picked rhythms with a lot of stop/start patterns that are capitalized on by the drumming, which is likely the most intense and audible across their career. The vocals follow the David Vincent style of intonation, harsh and guttural, nihilistic barks, but with the advantage of being a good decade later than our inauguration to that style, so they're a little more muscular in nature, though the patterns are often quite as sloppy, vaguely following the rhythmic patterns beneath them, giving their implementation a little more of an unhinged, asylum aesthetic which actually suits the music well. Never before have I heard the Damnation guitars this clearly, and while the wealth of the progressions they write are nothing terribly nuanced or special, they really dig into those strings here, with some of their most involved and rapid fire patterns, not to mention some of the best, wild lead lines they'd used to this point. The bass guitar also keeps a pretty solid presence in the mix, though it does get buried beneath the snare, fills, vocals and rhythm guitar whenever they are all firing off together into one of the more intense sequences.

Resist does lack some of the suffocating atmosphere of the sophomore Rebel Souls, and I also feel it comes up slightly short of that album in overall memorability, but note for note they are pretty close, with this, the band's swan song depicting their most intricate guitar work with a carnal clarity. The riffs do possess a variety I had not heard before, with a little bit of a clinical thrash element there in the intro to "Absence in Humanity", and some other tracks which reach slightly outside the comfort zone. Dark, ambient passages like "Voices of an Unknown Dimension" help lend a sense of evil and gravity to the track list, though the electronic and sounds used seem a little claptrap and cheesy, and most of them are embedded into the metal tracks without much of a strong purpose. The simple fact of the matter is that Damnation were a band reaching for something, and while they arguably got there in the 90s, they had more to their material than the already dulling proto brutal death and gore being pimped; a fusion of old school aesthetics with a slight regional spin. No, they weren't writing on the level of Vader or Behemoth or other countrymen, and it makes some sense that they got lost in the shuffle, but overall they had a good run as a solid second tier act which can still evoke a little darkness if you listen to them in the proper mindset. Rebel Souls and Resist were a pretty convincing one-two punch combo for such an unknown.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

Damnation - Coronation EP (1997)

Keeping themselves busy through the latter half of the 90s, Poland's Damnation capitalized on their very solid sophomore Rebel Souls with a four-track EP that sounds a lot like it looks, which is to say that it's blasphemous, savage occult death metal with a Baphomet cover image nearly indistinguishable from many others in its class. That's not to pass judgement too heavily on the music, but it does not seem that the band was aesthetically interested at the moment on building up further momentum from the prior album, which had shown a good degree of growth from their 1995 debut. I suppose I can give it a pass here, but only because they saw fit to record a tune called "Spell Master", and because the material itself does exhibit the ferocity and fortitude of Rebel Souls.

The mix is set at about the same level of epic murk as its predecessor, with the roiling guitars that just seethe along beneath the broader, guttural growls that crown the experience. The drums are tinny and on the lower side of the audibility range here, but it comes together like decent underground Euro death from its day and age, and one can't expect so much more. As for the riff structures, they are generally fast-paced and give off a similar Morbid Angel vibe that they'd done on the full-lengths, only some of the chord progressions used on these tunes most remind me of the Altars of Madness era, which happens to be my favorite from Trey and company. Atmospherics are still used with some sparse use of organ-like synth tones ("Spell Master") or a turbulent ambiance (intro to the title cut), so in that way they keep in line with their vision on the earlier records, and I also found that the lead work and melodic accompaniment here was kept at just the right ratio to keep the material from growing dull, because honestly not a lot of these riffs are that amazing to begin with.

The compositions do feel a fraction cluttered, especially (and sadly) on "Spell Master", but I feel that there's enough going on through the tracks, enough of a vibrant, hellish energy that it doesn't mar the quality terribly. Also, there's a big contrast between the business of the guitars and the vocals, which are almost all delivered with those broader phrasings. The bass tone has a good distortion on it but still seems to bury itself once the writhing guitars are on full thrust, and ultimately I think this EP exhibits the consistency of Rebel Souls, while slightly suffering from the clamor of Reborn... I also can't say I'd listen to it over either of those albums, but like the debut it does a moderate job of putting you into that 90s headspace, before production values were heavily polished and when death metal still maintained a natural, evil vibe to it that wasn't nostalgia-borne, but carried the genuine, black pulse of that formative age. Damnation is no Vader, but they'll do in a pinch if you want to dance on tombstones while you're sloshing your brain with vodka.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

Damnation - Rebel Souls (1996)

While not an enormous shift in style, Rebel Souls was a clear step forward for this Polish underground act, a more atmospheric and savage application of their Floridian-bred sound to a level that hinges on the brutality of more technical acts of the 90s but does not shake that utterly old-school appeal that the debut generated. They still weren't on a level which could gain them the fame that countrymen Vader had begun to achieve around this same period, but this sophomore was a dependable second stringer on that scene and a record I'll still break out to this day when I'm picking through various obscura from that time period which probably could've garnered a greater cult following if it had the exposure.

In some ways this can come off as a more dense and confusing effort, as if you're being stuck within the flumes of magma on its cover and are being suffocated and immolated simultaneously. The riffs hit harder, a barrage of claustrophobic, almost grinding distortion that channel as much Napalm Death in spots as they do the Morbid Angel and Deicide influences that populated the first record. Bass tone is fatter, the tempos shift on the drop of the time but manage to pull off some stronger transitions even though the rhythm guitar tone can get a little clunky in the recording. The focus here is on more blasted material permeated with atmospheric/ambient passages; a contrast which works well as they set up "Son of Fire", for instance. Overall more intense and musically proficient than prior material, but most importantly I felt like the growling was mixed off better against the lava flows of dextrous percussion and carnal, writhing guitar chords.

They vary the pacing up just enough so that it doesn't become monotonous, and often accent the harder rhythm sequences with cleaner, ringing guitars that give it a more arching, massive feel to it, almost an early experimenter in spots with a style that bands like Ulcerate and Gorguts would take to a far broader, dissonant extreme. The atmosphere is constant without ever choking out the meat of the metallic undergrowth, and the drums are fast and mean and prominently featured. Occasionally they've got some riffs here which are stronger than the rest, redolent of old Death and Obituary and Malevolent Creation, but I'd warn that this is still not the catchiest material of its era...the rushes of leadwork and overwhelming aggression help create an 'overall package' sort of record which doesn't really age all that poorly, seeming just as sinister as it did in its day, especially on cuts like "From the Abyssland" where those eerie low piano keys and choir-like cheesy ambiance inaugurate the serious, punishing turbulence of the band's limbs. Arguably the peak of Damnation, and an album easy to recommend if you're chasing down unsung Polish gems or simply bands in the same wheelhouse as a Sinister, Vader, Morbid Angel, etc.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (let's soar to the sky in red)

Damnation - Reborn... (1995)

It's easy to pore over the Polish death metal scene of the last decade and admit it's one of the very best in the world, with acts like Vader or Behemoth or upstarts Decapitated having vaulted well beyond any barriers to underground legend status, even to penetrate into the mainstream in some instances and territories. But I find it even more curious to dial back the years and observe how such a 'scene' developed, and for the region that birthed the aforementioned there seemed a pretty solid expansion in the 90s when the influential Floridian, Dutch, British, Finnish and Swedish sounds were being intensified or outright upstaged by the emergence of more technical, extreme or brutal strains of death. Damnation seems a band long overlooked, along with peers like Devilyn, Dead Infection, and Atrophia Red Sun; a band who gradually evolved into a potential contender but just never broke the surface membrane of that scene to grow a large audience throughout the rest of Europe and beyond.

Reborn... was the first of the three full-lengths they'd produce, and for my ears, the shabbiest, but not for a lack of trying. The clear inspiration here was early Florida, with a guitar tone and riffing style not unlike veterans Deicide, slightly muffled in the mix on the tremolo mutes, but not enough to hide it's frantic pacing. They branched out a little further than that, though, with a more atmospheric use of the strings in tracks like "Maldoror is Dead", and also possessed an explosive edge on some of the faster tracks which will no doubt bring to mind Morbid Angel or Malevolent Creation. Leads and transitions are often rough spots on this recording, with the former occasionally nailing a degree of evil resonance, but more often a little awkward and undeveloped. The latter sometimes just coming off more sloppy than intended as the drummer throws out some brutal fills, or perhaps it's just the production casting some untoward attention in the wrong places, creating a bit too broad a gulf between the percussion and the guitars. That isn't a complete detriment, however, since I'll grant that Reborn... does gain a boost to its atmosphere thanks to the combination of clarity and crudeness.

Vocals are a voluminous guttural, punctured only by a few sparse snarls, and they too help to round out the mean and murky feel they're going for, spitting forth lyrics about darkness, sorrow, and the occult which were all fairly comparable to other early European death metal acts, with a little of the overt Deicide/Slayer sacrilege for good measure. Some samples and ambient sections are used to decorate the record's playtime, and these feel a little uncouth and undercooked much like their metallic counterparts...cool for the cheesy, ominous horror they allude to, but could have been better implemented to rocket off into the metal segments. All told, for its production flaws and lack of really interesting or memorable riffs, I have to hand it to Reborn... for at least sounding like one of those 'genuine' retro death metal experiences that you can place to the year of its own conception. If you're only seeking to thrust yourself back into that earlier 90s mindset, to submerse yourself in the morbid humours of that decade, then you could probably do much worse...however, I would note that the busier sophomore Rebel Souls is a superior album in most every way, the real hidden gem of their catalog.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (I trample the cross of hypocrisy)

Bestial Raids - Master Satan's Witchery (2016)

Both the band's name and the album title are pretty apt to tell you what this going to sound like: raw and warlike blackened death metal which is the perfect fit for the Nuclear War Now! imprint upon which it's been released. Master Satan's Witchery sounds like someone took a number of primal extreme metal merchants like Hellhammer, Sarcofago, (old) Sodom and Blasphemy, melted down their essences, stirred them into a cauldron until they had been reduced to an essential, evil oil or ichor, and then corpse painted themselves with the resulting Satan-stuff before taking up rusted axes, spiked gauntlets and armbands, and squeezing themselves into leather and combat boots, with the open exposure of chest hair optional. Now, that sounds pretty goddamn awesome, I will admit...

And on SOME level, Bestial Raids is pretty awesome. They are raw as the fucks they do not give, and this attitude saturates their pounding, grinding, wrenching compositions as if they were rags soaked with blood and vomit. Liberal with the feedback, slathering the rhythm guitars in a tone that will literally churn your stomach, and powered by a percussion section that sounds like a bunch of hard objects being shoved through a lot of mouths full of teeth. They almost sound like a more uppity version of a band like Teitanblood, though a little more punkish in nature and not so absolute in the level of caustic emptiness that their music manifests. But yes, somewhere between those Spaniards' sense of nihilistic tone and the normal goat- or war-metal fixtures you'll find on the rest of the Nuclear War Now! roster or Hell's Headbangers, Masters Satan's Witchery delivers a firebrand of ugliness and punishment which is undoubtedly going to find some audience which deliberately seeks out that sense of infernal truth, blasting and broiling clamor and chaos.

Now, occasionally I would count myself among that audience, but not so much here, because for all its vile aesthetic primacy, this record just falls short for me when it comes to creating memorable riffs of any sort. They feel like half-formed things writhing in the murk of the distortion, and while that is indeed the modus operandi behind records like this, it just didn't last beyond the mandatory spins I take through a review title. The snarls and barked out vocals are fitting, the energy on all out assaults like "Angel of the Abyss" is one that I can appreciate, and Bestial Raids do live up to the task of creating a propulsive paean to the first wave abominations that influenced them, but I just feel at this point like I've heard too many of these sorts of records, that I can't normally be inspired by the raunchy atmosphere and instinctual savagery alone, that they require something a little extra, and Master Satan's Witchery didn't quite have it. But, there are certainly folks out there who are going to get a lot more from this than I did, so if you're into bands like Black Witchery, Proclamation or the unholy Canadian trio of Blasphemy, Conqueror and Revenge, have at it.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://bestialraidsofficial.bandcamp.com/

Werewolf - The Temple of Fullmoon (2005)

Perhaps one of the joys of Werewolf is the duo's irreverent sound and atmosphere, almost as if the tidal wave of raw 90s European black metal had never subsided and raged on gloriously into the next millennium, and perhaps it really had, but there's no question that The Temple of Fullmoon sounds more the product of 1995 than 2005. And that's no reason to complain, because at its core it this might just be all that matters...raw, roiling guitars performing in almost unanimously potent and 'majestic' chord patterns channeled directly from bands like Bathory and Graveland, reinforced with tightly clinging organs and choirs, or other synthesizer tones to give the band that complete 'Transylvanian' feel, as if their namesake lycanthrope was marching to war against the walls and ramparts of Castle Dracula. Grim, grisly, gnawing upon the cliche but evergreen fears of cold wilderness eves on a haunted landscape, this is banner-wielding black metal which is in turns both predictable and endearing.

This was the debut of a two-man act, both members also the complete lineup of the slightly better known Iuvenes which explored a more dynamic range over a larger body of recordings. Personally, I have always preferred Werewolf, not because of its purity of purpose but just that raw nostalgia it evokes. Chord progressions flow from slower to mid-paced rhythms which don't really attempt much nuance or technicality but seem to tap into that primal conscience of the genre, which for me is not likely to ever get old when issued with some sincerity. The drumming here is a bit flimsy, you can make all the snares and bass out but it does at times seem like a fractured scaffold about to collapse beneath the weight of the storming guitars and airier synth lines. This is not exactly a project one would turn to if seeking out musical proficiency...these guys aren't Ihsahn and Samoth, and what they create is material that any journeyman or even novice could summon, but that's also the appeal. The rustic sensibility of the riff construction collides with the nocturnal cathedral organs to create a sort of impossible, larger than life space in which the mind reels in stereotypical black & white Gothic horror footage, Hellhammer starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Bass is just kind of hanging out with the rhythm guitar chords, but it does contribute to the overall mood.

The decrepit snarling, possibly clotted with the Polish accent, doesn't possess a lot of dynamic potential or syllabic range, just sounds like some old creepy black metal guy living out of a cottage, narrating tales of terrible and hideous flora and fauna. I'm not fucking kidding, when you listen to this band's records, you can just picture Geralt the Witcher riding through the album with some top heavy harpy impaled upon his sword, trying to get to the local tavern and claim his reward before the night creeps too closely on his heels. The Temple of Fullmoon is far from brilliant, but it's got a great sense of time and place about it which makes it easy to break out and know precisely the sort of mood it's going to set for me. I believe the follow-up, The Order of Vril, released in 2009, slightly after Gray Wolf sadly took his own life, is the stronger of two albums, with a more magnificent blend of the band's symphonics and surging breakwater riffs, but it doesn't entirely fire this one. Recommended if you'd have loved a classic 1993-1997 era Graveland with stronger production, or if you're the sort to want to jam endlessly on Quorthon's mid-paced riffs circa Under the Sign of the Black Mark or Blood Fire Death. Big, dumb, carnal, engaging escapism.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

Raging Death - Raging Death (2015)

The cover of this album had me doing a double-take, not because of the obvious necrophilia laws being broken on it, or these guys are striving really hard to return to the 'source' of their style with one of the most generic monikers I've seen in years, but because within a small span of days, Punishment 18 has ALSO released the debut of a German band called Running Death. I bet those Italians over there are getting a real chuckle at this, but I fear the joke might be forever lost on us all if both albums turn out quite so mediocre as this one in particular. Reaping Death, Racing Death, Raping Death, Ripping Death Ricocheting Death, Rollerskating Death, I'm sure all of these must be in the pipeline somewhere. But surely I jest...right?

I'd hesitate to outright accuse this debut of being the sort of sidewalk-bound pizza thrash we hear so often, young bands recycling a handful of riffs from the 80s and then attempting to resurrect the old aural cues like flies from amber...and yet, that's kind of what this is. Raging Death is about velocity, pure and simple, a slightly more melodic brand of thrash than most of the harder West Coast stuff of the Golden Age, threaded with triplets and riffs that sound like a sort of heavily NWOBHM-soaked Destruction or Necronomicon. Progressions arrive at a fairly fast clip but are almost unanimously predictable in structure, often with harmonies that leave me with an aftertaste that seems like what Running Wild might have sounded like if they were more of a thrash act in the vein of Master of Puppets. The Polish band does not necessarily lack for energy like they do for compelling ideas, but the biggest issue I had was that the rhythm guitars seem to have this volume and bluster which outstrips or outpaces the snappier, thin drums, almost like meat so excessively steamed that it surely peels off the bone, and a number of tunes feel indistinguishable for others, which is obnoxious.

The accent of the vocals definitely recalls a lot of East European and Teutonic thrash of the 80s, somewhere between Destruction and Wolf Spider, with lots of elevated screams and at the end of phrasings, and this is perhaps one of the strengths, because though they could easily be written off as a sort of 'this is how thrash SOUNDED' caricature, they are at least pretty fun, whereas the picking parts, as hard as they might try, seem at best like mediocre plays on Mortal Sin's sophomore album or some other forgotten record that arrived humbly at the point that thrash had already reached its saturation point when it actually mattered the first time. The bass guitars don't pop out on this disc at all, and the riffs and tunes, while not always incompetent or uninspired, simply don't blend in with strong vocal lines or chorus hooks to produce anything more than a samey rush. If you are into any of the other bands that I listed here, or perhaps some of the first two Artillery records, or the debut by Vendetta, then this might satisfy a niche craving, but the mix, presentation and songwriting are just not at a level yet beyond the raw reproduction of an era and aesthetic. I've heard worse, surely, but also a lot better. And speaking of Shirley, traipsing around the graveyard buck naked might not be such a great idea after all.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/RagingDeathPL/timeline

Decapitated - Blood Mantra (2014)

Though Blood Mantra is far from the return to form I had hoped it could be, it at least sounds like the band assessed their second-rate 2011 effort Carnival is Forever, and then gave themselves a series of kicks in their own asses to provoke a little more genuine anger and energy into the inevitable followup. That's not to imply that this is in any way a 'good' record. It has proven even more forgettable with each successive listen, but if all hope had been lost through its predecessor, at least there is a spark now...maybe. Of course, when I see band members claiming "Blood Mantra is the most heavy and mature album we ever did in our career" amidst the usual shitstorm of metal press hyperbole, I have to wonder if the Poles are listening to the same record I'm hearing...because these guys were writing far more intricately sculpted, mature death metal when they were in their teens...Blood Mantra is the sort of disc that could honestly just turn up from any band with its feet soaked in death, grind and groove metal, and then straight to the bargain bins in the late 90s. Competent in its performance and production, but soulless in its pursuit of that timeless quality we attribute to top flight death metal.

It's a concussive affair which alternates between bland, robotic blasting passages, chugging queues beyond which the bass guitar is allowed to roil around in its distorted flatulence, and then various post-industrial atmospheres are strewn about, marking a return to the Organic Hallucinosis period. Frankly, it's not such a bad idea, and that was the last Decapitated disc I actually enjoyed, but alas, they don't do much with it beyond pay it some lip service...as a whole, this album never steps beyond the bounds that they've ever set before, and if you're expecting anything by way of compelling guitar progressions that characterized their first few albums, you are almost shit out of luck here. There are a few which achieve the syncopated, precision punch sophistication you'll recall from Nihility and "Spheres of Madness", and those are surely highlights here, but sadly the banal groove/nu-thrash metal elements arrive in the form of "Veins", etc which might as well just be textbook Soulfly or any of a number of other mediocre bands who tried to capitalize on that whole thing. I won't fault these guys for lacking variation or versatility...Blood Mantra is pretty carefully balanced to provide its audience with a number of mood shifts, but the issue for me is that none of these moods are capable to provoke memorable atmosphere beyond the LCD neck-strain and pit-flexing requisite of popular metal bands.

Based on raw musical proficiency alone, this stuff does deliver. Michał Łysejko is flawless on his debut, but perhaps a little too flawless, since his aptitude is so resoundingly mechanical that you wonder why they even needed to hire a human. But let's not write the guy off completely, because he's also capable of showing some restraint where needed during the more progressive side of the record where the guitars take on far more importance. The guitars are somewhat technical, and do often go into some minute detailing, but the issue is that the notes are just not that interesting in succession and I felt that, even with all the considering meandering between tempos, I was still staring at some level, unbroken, not-too-creative plateau. The bass tone sounds great, but there are never any lines that catch the ear, and the leads just feel like runs through scales or structures rather than efforts to explode with either orgasmic emotions or frightening industrial dissonance. Man, it just got boring...no matter how skilled these guys seem, how many endorsements they receive, how many tours they embark upon, there's something to be said when single songs off Winds of Creation are more interesting and memorable than all of the content combined on an album 14 years younger...

Rafal's vocals are just as bog standard here as on the last album, a pastiche of Cavalera, Anselmo and Greenway cliches which basically just fill in the spreadsheet of what needs to be grunted and barked and utterly indistinguishable from a thousand other front men. Your friendly neighborhood corner groove metal guy. Not all the lyrics here are bad, but it's particularly funny when he's grunting out the 'fuck for money/fuck for name!' lines in the song "Instinct", during a groove over which I kept finding myself reciting Flava Flav's chorus in the old Public Enemy track "911 is a Joke", for whatever reason. Parts like this simply feel like they involve more pandering and rabble rousing to those whom only the exclamation of profanity can inspire from their shoddy lives, which is a little frustrating because half of what the band has to say here about the disenchantment of the Millennial internet generation (which has been the subject matter for about 3 albums straight) carries some weight. If only Blood Mantra wasn't, itself, contributing to that very same sense of futility, anxiety and impotence. Everything in the world at your fingertips...all that history, all that information, and no cause or purpose with which to approach, nothing whatsoever to do with it all...just like the musical chops on exhibition here. An inoffensive, competent musical battery? Sure. Superior to the band's career nadir to date? Why not? The once-bright future of death metal? Extinguished.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10] (find me a faith)

http://www.decapitatedband.net/

Calm Hatchery - Fading Reliefs (2014)

Calm Hatchery has a tendency to 'undersell' itself based on its choice of cover imagery, first with its excellent 2004 debut album El-Alamein and now with the third full-length Fading Reliefs. Don't mistake me: the choice of color palette and photograph does indeed complement the Eastern sounds present through the disc, but your average grave monger perusing the racks for either the newest, vibrantly graphic brutal death disc or old school throwback might pass this one by just on its looks. Which would be a mistake, since this is by far one of the most consistent Polish death metal albums, and while placed well below the trinity of Behemoth, Vader and Decapitated in terms of overall popularity, they can often rival any of those names when it comes to sheer riff sculpture, personality and sum musical capabilities. That they've not created bigger waves I can only attribute to the international saturation of the genre, but trust me, folks, along with Lost Soul, they represent one of Poland's mightiest, and Fading Reliefs continues that high level of songwriting consistency. The 4-6 years between albums are well spent.

This might not be their best material yet, but it's for sure their most interesting, as they've dialed up those aforementioned Eastern folk influences to include not only a slew of well-executed chants and mantras to back up the predictably guttural barking, but also for some pretty amazing arrangements of cleaner, acrobatic strings as in the intro to "Blessing Mantra". This stuff flow seamlessly into and out of their surgical percussion and riffing progression palette, which essentially scours the annals of bands like Deicide and mid 90s Morbid Angel and then gives them a more clinical spin with these excellent, pinpoint harmonies across the two rhythm guitars. The punctuation of each pattern and fluidity of performance is easily the equal of any on the Polish scene (similar to Hate but much better on average), and yet I also feel like they could have an enormous appeal to fans of the current Californian craze, where a lot of bands have this same balance of technicality and memorable composition. But that exotic mysticism and Middle Eastern ethnic charisma in many of the arching riffs and gorgeous leads also leads me to believe they serve as a proxy for Nile with a lot less of the hit-or-miss turbulence and occasionally blander guitar work that band exudes in its quest to be the darkest and fastest band to ever hail from the East US.

The eight new originals here are simply stunning, busy and compelling. While I can't cite that the licks they rupture are wholly original, the way they position particular rhythm structures comes across like they are at least trying to be, and Fading Reliefs hits that 'special place' between retro obsession and modernity that I like to dub 'real death metal', although to these Poles, nostalgia dwells more in the influence of works like Legion or Covenant than Scream Bloody Gore and Left Hand Path. Once again, I am bludgeoned by the realization that Calm Hatchery is such an unknown, but equipped to write and perform at this level, and have painfully few complaints here. The bass could be a little louder, but it's good anyway; and I didn't care much for the one track that was included twice (the second version in Polish), since it sort of sours the momentum of the album (but it's just meant as a tacked on bonus for their local fans anyway, so no real harm). Anyway, fucking awesome record, with excellent drumming, excellent guitars, and enough depth to cycle through a half dozen spins without anything blending together to the point that you'd become exhausted on it. Buy this, buy everything they've done, and let's get some of these deserving stalwarts of the dead a little more spotlight...even if it would be difficult to make out in the blinding desert sun which inspires them.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

https://www.facebook.com/calmhatchery