I have not heard the band’s 2011 debut, Beyond Phobia, so I can’t compare, but what we have here is some spider-y, jittery tech death metal with lots of skronky (I really need to find and thank whoever created that word), twisty, adhd addled stop start riffs, twangy bass and noodling solos. The vocals are a mid range growl/bark (with a few harsh spoken words here and there), not too guttural but not overly processed either, Just right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bufBqkePoek

The 35 minute, 10 song run time is also spot on for the style, neither overstaying its welcome or being gone in a blur. None of the tracks are world beaters, and Gorod is safe as France’s best tech death export, but they check all the boxes, despite a clinical production that makes the material seem a bit mechanical. The likes of the title track, “Paranoid Visions (pt 2)”, ” God ov Fire” and  “Voices” highlight the band’s blend of tech death paradigms and slivers of off kilter song writing that keep things just a shade different. But they can also deliver flat out Origin like blasts as shown by closer “Insania lupina”.

As a bonus the digipack version of the CD comes with a second CD that contains the band’s 2012 EP Between Fear and Madness as well as three other redone tracks, so you at least get some bang for your buck, even of the quality of the overall material is just solid.

Now, back in 1991, when Putrid Offal formed,they had a clear sound in mind as General Surgery released Necrology and Carcass released Necrotism, and both are huge influences here, certainly More General Surgery. Though Carcass’s lingering 1989 influence of Symphonies o f Sickness‘s is  much more  prevalent . Take one look at the song titles like “From Plasma to Embalming”, “Purulent Cold” or “Organic Excavation” to see that and the music does a bang up job of creating that gurgling, gore drenched 1991 sound, even if updated with a 2014 production, and less ‘medical’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpT5a0ga1rw

13 songs, 30 minutes (plus two throwaway  covers in SODs “Freddy Krueger” and “Sane Men” from Dutch 90s industrial rockers Nerve), so don’t look for any long developed track this is a classic burp ‘n’ blast death metal/grindcore assault from times of yore. But as with Necrology and Symphonies there’s some order in the chaos with cleverly catchy riffs and grooves albeit drenched in viscera, bile and retched dual vocals. The likes of “Suffering”, ‘Birth Remains”, “From Plasma to Embalming” (which more than just an homage to Carcass’s “Ruptured in Purulence“, and has Loudblast’s S . Buroes providing some guest vocals) short bursts of “Symptom” and groove of “Rotted Flesh” are awesomely nostalgic. Especially to someone like me who adores Necrology, as it was essentially Carcass played with  Stockholm death metal styled production.

If you want a more primal, raw 90s sound, in addition to the rerecorded material, this double CD release also includes Premature Necropsy, which is a remastered compilation of all 18 tracks from just the 3 splits with Agathocles, Exulceration and the 6 way split Obscurum per Obscurius. So there is basically a lot of duplication of the same songs, but the more raw sounds of Premature Necropsy still has some nice moments with a pure, unfiltered sound.  So there is a lot of music here, even if a lot is double up., but it’s a cool package (literally, the packaging and artwork is top notch) overall and certainly a nice throwback to 1991.

Admittedly, the album isn’t a game changer or ground breaker, but it’s enjoyable enough, even with the more thrash based vocals amid the death metal ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ delivery. The production is clean and hefty enough when the band is delivering a solid groove or feral blast the quartet can play their instruments well enough and the song writing is dynamic enough to be interesting, although the band’s lack of clear concrete style might deter some.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwalq3AqNfc

When the band slow down or become a little more melodic and little an reign things in is where they become a little more memorable, than the standard if intense blasts., whether standalone songs or within separate songs. The likes of “Invocation of Sublime Death” “Cerebro Venificium” and rangy 7 minute closer “Goddess of Sins” become a little more interesting and varied than the competent dervishes of “Crypts of Blood”, “Temple of Lust and Fire” or “Ov Madness”.

I’m not sure I’ll throw on Graveyard of Eden out of desire or need after this review, but certainly I wont skip any of their songs when the ipod is on shuffle. and let me tell you- that’s is no small feat considering the metal I have for review loaded on the thing.

Continuing the sound of the EP, the sound is still a powerful mix of beefy mid era Behemoth mixed with the orchestral majesty of classic Dimmu Borgir, so those perturbed by a little pomp and theatrics in theier metal might not care for this. However, those that enjoy an little regality mixed in with their brutality, a la Fleshgod Apocalypse or Septicflesh, will find lots to like about Revealed in Profane Splendour.

The aptly named “Sacrilegious  Majesty” opens things up with a tribal pounding before exploding with a salvo on menacing bellows and downtuned tremolo blasts, setting the tempo for the rest of the album. It’s not rocket science or game changing, buts its an authoritative melding of styles that commands your attention with its pummeling death/black  metal and magisterial synths and choirs. And while the synths are not the focal point, they do deliver a pretty constant back drop of dramatic brass and strings that’s close to Fleshgod Apcalypse,  as heard on “Inexorable Revelation” or “Obscenity Ov Old”, which even has some kingly clean croons to add to the regal feel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHrHcVWXjxs

And in truth, all 7 tracks have a pretty similar M.O, with none really standing out, but all 7 being enjoyably bombastic, epic while retaining teeth, not being overly theatrical or pompous. The likes of “Annihilation ov Abhorrent Crescent” or “Infernal Reign” (with more clean vocals) are simply well executed and brutally orchestral, with the only down side being there isn’t an infernally ‘wow’ riff or song that keeps bringing me back, just this incessant orchestral bombastic death metal assault. And that’s perfectly fine when it’s done this well. The closing track, “O Paragon, Bringer of Light” comes close with a an initial mid paced approach and controlled militant march before the full on salvo continues.

The production is big and full and the vocals very robust with Isfeth having a beefy Nergal like presence to his commanding depth and clarity making this an impressive all around debut that shows this UK act is hopefully firmly entrenched in the genre for a while to come.

After a completely unnecessary intro track of some hissing noise, “Genesis of Void” opens with an almost industrial-sounding churn and somewhat technical riffing, leading into a sparse breakdown. The production is clean, but not totally lacking in reverb, which keeps things from sounding too polished. The guitars are thick, and the more deathy parts of the song are pretty sonically punishing. The sense of groove that carries through a series of breakdown rhythms at the end of the song demonstrates that Deep in Hate is a welcome departure from run-of-the-mill deathcore.

The subsequent track, “The Cattle Procession,” actually elicited the stink face and the savage head bob as I listened to it for the first time. It strikes the perfect balance of predictability while providing unexpected twists and headbanging groove. The chugging breakdowns are balanced with dark, off-kilter melodies. It’s like a deathcore version of “Spheres of Madness.”

The only fault worth mentioning is that Deep in Hate is sometimes too controlled; seldom do the songs fly off the handle the way they could, or should. The most technical moment on this album, the noodling toward the end of “The Divide,” seems more or less by-the-numbers, not the catastrophic maelstrom that it might have been. This is a common problem with technical metal though, that technicality weakens the impact of the music rather than enhancing it.

But there are many moments that explode with kinetic energy to more than make up for that shortcoming. And Deep in Hate is not overly technical. The band favors the machine-like dual attack of the razor-sharp guitars and in-your-face kick drum in controlled bursts, not rapid fire. By and large, the technical flourishes serve an overall purpose, providing context and buildup to the breakdowns. The frenzied attack that intensifies one minute into “Altars of Lies,” and the blasting of “The Unheard Prayers” speak to the potential that this band has to unleash some serious devastation. The music has the same machine-like drive and sense of groove of Decapitated, and some of the breakdowns bear the weightiness of The Acacia Strain‘s finer moments. Relentless closer “Beyond” brings things to a slow, devastating end with a touch of tragic melody.

With this album, Deep in Hate has proven itself a formidable unit. As one who is hesitant about anything brandishing the ‘core label, I found this to be an immensely enjoyable slab of modern metal. This is how it’s done. Chalk up another victory to the French metal scene.

And while a couple of the band members are involved in symphonic black metal band Sidious, Eye of Solitude shows where the band’s expertise is. Canto III is chock full of rending, layered, lumbering melancholy and somber atmospherics as well as a few moments where the Sidious side shines through with some surprisingly harsh moments of extremity. The six lengthy dirges all deliver lightly synth glossed gloom, deep, cavernous vocals and those oh so evocative, ponderous riffs, wilting melodies and acoustics meant to strum on your heart strings and drag you into a misery drowned stupor. But it’s sudden injections of blackened or death metal tinged ferocity that will wake you suddenly amid the squalor.

Look no further than opener “Act I: Between Two Worlds (Occularis Infernum)” with its acoustic opening, rending lope, pained Italian spoken word (the album is after all based on Dante’s Inferno) and rather surprising black/death metal spurt around 5 1/2 and 10 minutes in. These moments keep the long tracks from becoming too much doom or simply overwhelmingly depressing (I’m looking at you Mournful Congregation). Second track “Act II: Where the Descent Began” gets right to it with a rending orchestral lope before some very well done, depressing clean vocals and violin work really sucks the life out of you, before one of those more extreme breaks kicks in and revives you.

And that’s pretty well the formula for each of the very competent songs. Some gloomy, plodding funeral doom, some keys, a bit of a blast and back to the doom. But the formula is done so well and the doom element so rending, that it never gets old. “Act III: He Who Willingly Suffers” builds with a lovely piano and clarinet intro before a perfectly structured funeral doom march. “Act IV: The Pathway Had Been Lost” is the albums only slight misstep going for a more gothic, mopey, Paradise Lost riff and pace, even with the deep vocals and the overdone mid song weeping/waling section, it’s a bit sugary. “Act V: Sat In Silence” atones with a traditional funeral doom plod.

“Act V: In the Desert Vast” ends the album with that rare uplifting, but still doom aura where rays of light shine through the gloom and shimmers with somber grace, especially the long piano interlude and subsequent cavernous bellow and chug, ending the album impressively and certainly putting Eye of Solitude as heirs to thier once great peers.

Unfortunately, the end result is a rather middling if solid death metal release that was bound to get lost in 2013’s slew of high profile, high quality death metal. With a very American delivery and sound, there is nothing incompetent in The Fall of Omnius. The musicians all can play at a high level, the vocals are layered, suitably gruff and guttural and there is an ample mix of furious Origin like blasts, solos and mid paced rumbles. And while none of the songs really stand out, it’s all certainly full of conviction and skill. Even though it’s not really sticking with me, I don’t feel the need to skip it either, as it hits the 43 minute sweet spot.

Second track “Mastering the Voice” highlights the busy shreddage and Origin-y feel as does 5th track “Feydakins’s Storm”, “The Cymek Revolution” and blatantly for start of “Legend of Selim (pt.2: the Return of the Worm-Rider)”. There are a couple of slower tracks as well, but the focus of the album is definitely a modern, clean precision. But even with the large amount of intense, if a little forgetful blasting, the band manage to close the album on a relatively high note in the almost 8 minute “To the Golden Path”, which mixes in a little more pacing and variety to the urgent, shrill blasting. It certainly shows promise for future releases, even if it’s a little too late to elevate this album into something a little more impactful.

Sidious is a complete 180 from Eye of Solutide‘s plodding funeral doom and renders a bombastic symphonic style of blackened death metal that melds classic (Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, Spiritual Black Dimensions, PEM) Dimmu Borgir‘s epic symphonics, albeit much meaner and sinister and Behemoth’s (as if the ‘Ov’ in the EP title didn’t give it away) muscular beefy death metal. The result is a criminally short, 4-song, 18-minute taster of something pretty special lurking and germinating in the UK’s black/death metal scene.

With a big, almost cyber death metal guitar tone and deep, death metal vocals, the backbone is more death than black metal, but every song has a almost continual Fleshgod Apocalypse-like symphonic accompaniment, though a bit less regal and classical and more theatrical, again sounding like Dimmu Borgir‘s more memorable synth lines. The Dimmu Borgir element also comes by way of some spoken atmospheric whispers and croaks here and there amid the huge bellows.

But for the most part, Sidious blasts and bellows away with a tangibly Polish sense of dynamics and militant brute force. Fierce blast beats collide with stern marches and sudden flourishes of atmosphere as each of the 4 songs is has leveling sense of power and confidence. From opener “Insurmountable Mass” through “Sentient Race” and “Nihilistic Regeneration”, to the closing title track, this EP rips pretty hard and forcefully announces the presence of a UK band to keep an eye on.

So depending on where you stand with Beneath the Massacre‘s shrill blasting vortex will determine how you feel about Years of Tyrants. They possess the same utterly ridiculous speed and technical chops, especially drummer Benoit Peichert, who is as fast and as skilled as anyone in the genre right now. At times, these guys make Origin look like Evoken. So of course, there isn’t much as far as memorability or catchiness, but that is more than made up for in deft shreddage and over the top brutality.

With the album’s 23 minute length though, it never overstays its welcome, and there is even a short breather by way of the short piano interlude “Leading the Blind”. But other than that, expect a sheer assault of typically techy, noodly blasting. It’s not nearly as playful as Gorod or melodic as Decrepit Birth or even Origin, though it does feature lots of hyper-speed sweeps, but trust me, not kidding when I say it sounds like Beneath the Massacre. A few short live breakdowns are sparsely littered within the chaos, such as opener “Stronger than All”, “Infestation of Larvae”, standout closer “This is Meat”, or “Interlude” but for the most part it’s full on triple bass, sweep-filled squealing and blasting with occasional lurches like “Euthanasia” or “Through Infamy”, which even has a touch of melody.

These guys, like their peers, will be plagued by the “great musicians – can’t write songs” crowd, but for what it is, Leading the Blind is actually a pretty fine example of this kind of extremity and I’d be curious to see if they can keep my attention for a longer release.