“L’agonie de l’Épice” is the longest song, close to six minutes.  Starts with a bludgeoning mid-paced heaving heaviness and then right off to the races with more ferocious blasting.  The song gets back into that tight mid-paced rumbling rhythm section which works quite well, but Christ almighty those triggered double bass drums-they are over the top.  But with this style of death metal that’s usually the case.  The non-stop madness lets up at the 4.10 section when the music stops and goes into an atmospheric soundscape thematic instrumental and that’s how the song ends.  It’s a breath of fresh air to catch your breath….until “Sedition” picks you up, body slams you 1000x, then dusts you off, then proceeds to body slam you another 1000x, just to ensure your body is ravaged beyond recognition.  Nice guitar soloing going on in the middle of the song as the swirling blast, drum rolls are tied together with some nice bass guitar work-I really enjoy this section, quite a lot-a standout moment on this album.  More guitar soloing towards the end of the track as the blasting continues.  Some nicely placed growls as well.

“Sea of Sand” ends the album and is slower in nature as it starts off and is a big highlight on From Agony to Transcendence, and then the blasting comes back in.  Some killer drum rolls and then back into the slower moments.  Vocals are pretty scorching on this particular song and they saved the best song for last as this song has some cool variety to it-I wished there were many more moments like this on the rest of the album.

Nephren-Ka are super brutal death metal.  If you’re into Hate Eternal and Hour of Penance you will enjoy this.  Another band that also has that Hate Eternal sound is Japan’s Desecravity and I find them to be about the best in the bunch for this death metal style.  I would like to see Nephren-Ka maybe mix in some more mid-paced moments and concentrate on the less is more approach.  Hey I love blasting just like any other brutal death metal head, but sometimes when it’s so incessant like on From Agony To Transcendence, then some of the songs run into one another which makes it difficult to distinguish one song from the next.  The production is tight and powerful and loud-in your face type of stuff.  Overall From Agony To Transcendence is a pretty good, over the top brutal death metal album, which will piss your neighbors off if you crank this loud.

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.