Let’s dive into an abyss where only the sound of blackened doomy old school death metal emerges. This album has everything that’s awesome about 90s death metal: a production that makes the music feel echo-y and distant, raspy growls, an apocalyptic and morbid feel, and more focus on creating a dark atmosphere than on being the heaviest ever, though it’s heavy. But like any good throwback album, it has plenty of personality and talent in its own right, and it’s not an inferior imitation of anyone.
We know what to expect with the first track, “Feral Instinct”, and its sinister, almost melancholic riff, its animalistic roar of a growl. It starts slow and gains more energy as it progresses. The keyboards and drum in the outro give the song an even more powerful and sinister vibe, and a slight symphonic black metal touch. Like I said, there’s creativity, and a nicely done dark atmosphere on the album, in every track.
There’s some more nice sinisterness on “Antithesis” and its slow, creepy riff and deep, echoing growls. Some tracks manage to be almost soft and upbeat, while still full of darkness. “Yielding to the Embrace of the Ground” has a wonderfully melancholic intro with vocals raspier and more distant than ever, until it starts going faster, with a pretty catchy riff too. It’s like something from the beyond, where the dead mourn and demons fight. “The Die is Cast” also begins with a very catchy melody before turning heavy and evil. “The Wavering radiant” has an almost, well, bright feeling to its main riff, but its slow rhythm feels as sinister as ever. That’s a description that often comes to my mind for death metal, and that’s the overall feel of this album.
“The Last of Us”, with its great fast riff and gloomy keyboard touches, feels as apocalyptic as the title suggests. The riff feels like a crazy wind or rain pouring, which is very black metal, put the low and raspy vocals are pure 90s death metal. But the most apocalyptic, sinister, and yet magical and creative at the same time would be “Mournful Will Be Thy Day of Doom”, which begins with a creepy incantation before exploding into sharp, threatening riffs and beastly, echo-y growls, gloomy keyboards, and a much slower and eerier last verse. It’s the best example of the band’s creativity and style. And finally, “One More Drop” has an amazingly dark and sinister riff and creepy vocals, both growled and whispered, a great conclusion to the album.
If you want a good dose of darkness, death and apocalypse, this is the album you need. It’s full of good songs, never a dull moment. The album sounds like it could have come out in the early 90s when the death, black and doom metal scene were just taking shape. But it really deserves our congratulations for using the old school death metal tone and production correctly: the production feels muffled and distant to give the music an eerie feel, rather than because extreme metal “has to be” done this way. More importantly, it doesn’t just copy old school death metal albums with no intelligence or skill: it gives us the same atmosphere, makes us feel the same things as the best albums of that genre and era. It’s just as good as what it’s inspired by. And for that, it’s definitely an impressive album.
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