France’ Horror Within released a damn good EP in 2022, Awaiting Extinction, and now equipped with a brand new label, Soul Awakening, their debut album is unleashed. The band also welcomes in new vocalist Loris Padovani.

The EP had some technical death metal moments as well as deathcore nods. Soul Awakening is a different beast with very simple and brief song titles. The significant shift is their switch towards HM-2 Swedish Death Metal. Those buzzsaw guitar tones are all over this sucker, and Loris proves to be a damn good and powerful grunter. This is brutal shit, out-brutalizing their EP, even.

The album opener, “Phobophobia”, has fast ripping blast beats, and the groove right before the three-minute marker is terrific. The band then swoops in with the blast beats and then into the signature 1990 Swedish galloping attacks with amazing growls and grunts all over the sections. This is an outstanding opening song.

“Silent Fall” is up next, and the melodic moments make one think this will be a softer song…but alas, dear reader, nope. Brutal blasting gets underway, but there are some melodic moments with the guitars, bringing in a bit of an In Flames feel; however, by and large, Horror Within are beefier and a lot more brutal. Some creative blasting takes place with the guitar riffing. The 2.30 galloping double pounding with the heavy guitars and second guitar harmonies makes for a real fun headbanging moment. These guitars call to mind early Dismember, and the double pounding moments have some off-kilter guitar moments bringing forth an Ulcerate flair. This was not something I was expecting, as this song goes from brutal Swedish death metal to melodic Swedish death metal, then to ushering in some Ulcerate moments. It is all cohesive, and this song gets even more brutal towards the end, with a terrifically long growl to mash your bones into bits.

“Dead Inside” starts slow and has melodic tendencies as the vocals are barked and are pretty damn deep. The double bass drums kick in, and its mid-paced section showcases the heaviness of the guitars quite bitingly. The crunch to the beat down groove is unreal in its heaviness. Now, while the band had deathcore influences in the past, they are not apparent on this album, although the chugging groove I just mentioned may have a deathcore nod. However, this is more brutal Swedish death metal. The atmospheric moments at 2.30 with the guitars and choral vocals, background ooosss and ahhhhhssss add a different element of surprise. This is an expansive song and I can see the band potentially expanding on these moments on a future release, as they work awesome.

“The Beast” ends the album at six minutes and has a lot of slow melodic moments, epic atmosphere, and then frightening displays of heavy brutality where the blasting throttles you upside down and tosses you in da wood chipper.

Soul Awakening is an excellent display of Swedish death metal with a lot of other elements thrown in to ensure this is not a one-trick pony. The album cover theme is an extension of the EP with the Lovecraft artwork. My man Alex, from Dolorem Records, is quickly snatching up more of his country’s death metal bands as his label is the leader in French death metal, and the quality output is exceptional. The production on this is in your face, loud, proud, and a spot-on mix. Horror Within has outdone themselves and released a scorching debut album!!

[Visit the band's website]

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