I’ve been a fan of Angerot for the last several years, reviewing them here and enjoying their version of Swedish inspired death metal.

I really enjoy it when bands think outside of the box. Angerot’s longtime drummer Matt Johnson, departs, but the band has new songs to record and to keep their label happy. So they enlist seven drummers to perform duties on the band’s seven new songs. One of them is my buddy, Thomas Haywood, who actually works for the label, is a drummer and performs on track #6 “A Pact Made in Flesh & Wine”.

Since this is such an interesting thing for a band to do, here is the list of the drummers, some pretty heavy hitters, and the respective songs they are on. Kévin Paradis – “Rapture ov All That Is”, Derek Roddy – “When Witches Dance”, Dariusz “Daray” Brzozowski – “We Are the Serpents & the Saints”, Pierce Williams – “Lying Tongues Removed”, Marco Pitruzzella – “Her Song ov Feathers & Ivory”, Zack Simmons – “With No Eyes I See”. The rest of the band remains in place:

Zaugg – Bass, Jason Ellsworth – Guitars (lead), C.R. Petit Guitars (rhythm), Vocals.

So let’s jump around a bit and get to “Her Song ov Feathers & Ivory”, where Marco drums on since he is such a beast. The song erupts with some drums, then right into the fast, smashing beats with excellent throaty vocals. The drum rolls on this song are super tight AF. Around the minute marker is a melodic moment with the guitars and drums still erupting. The monster groove happening after this part is brutal bliss. The groove returns in a different fashion, going slower even and some galloping, then back into the mid-paced moments. Thunderous double bass. Terrific song.

“A Pact Made in Flesh & Wine”, with Mr. Haywood drumming, is a different song. As the song showcases more of a progressive, off-kilter semi poly-rhythmic nature. After that prior crazy fast and moving death metal track, this one also has quite a bit of melody and overall is a rather slow song. There are some nods to Gorguts with respect to their Obscura album, for sure on this. Interesting song, a bit complicated too, not a linear song at all and I am impressed with the drumming.

“When Witches Dance” with Derek on here, the second song, there is plenty of blasting going on and a song that we are more accustomed to from Angerot. Fast, chunky, heavy with serious blazing riffs. Check out the slow down around the 1.30 moment, right after the killer growls and vocals. Blistering groove with a nice guitar solo that gets piped in, right before the faster past moments come in. The drumming on this sucker stands out and this is my favorite song on Seofon.

Zack Simmons – “With No Eyes I See” is the final song here, and there is an emphasis on melody. I must say, lower those headsets at the very opening of this song. The way the drums hit and guitars come in is beyond heavy, abrupt, and will throttle your cavities right outta that dumb mouth of yours. By and large the song is a slower number.

Seofon is a good album from Angerot, their fourth in total. There are times when the production re: the drums is a bit different ,and this lends credence to the different drummers, where the drums were recorded, and there are seven different playing styles, which I picked up on. But I must commend the band for doing this out of the box album with the guest drummers. At times the entire album does not sound 100% cohesive, however, this is a well-played, talented and at times bludgeoning death metal album.

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