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Blaspherian > Infernal Warriors of Death > Reviews > Akerfeldt_Fanboi
Blaspherian - Infernal Warriors of Death

NYDM Straight Outta Houston - 85%

Akerfeldt_Fanboi, June 20th, 2012

New York death metal is a fickle extension of the death metal genre, mostly because the true definition of the sound is ambiguous. To me, the true definition of the NYDM scene is entirely 'Effigy of the Forgotten' if due solely to the production.

Now, here's the part where Blaspherian comes in: this is straight-up New York style. Attempting the dry, fuzzy, low-end sound of the early 90's is a fool's errand but these Texas boys know how to get the job done. The production of this album epitomizes the sound of evil; the sound of death metal.

Everything begins with the suspenseful intro in "The Disgrace of God". It marks the sign of evil that most modern death metal forgets about, that Paul Ledney sound in 'Onward to Golgotha' or that absolutely foul sounding riffing on 'The Dead Shall Inherit' and 'Legion'. Blaspherian is the sort of band that is at the frontlines of the revitalization of true death metal.

Enough of the figurative, lets get to the nitty-gritty of it all.

As I said earlier, the production is the perfect wall of sound that you want to hear in this style of death metal. A percussive flair accompanied by dense, low-end fizz and absolutely monstrous riffs.

The riffs are definitely here, and they absolutely slay. Everything from the mid-paced ferocity of the title track to the absolute monster that is "Lies of the Cross" is fit to stay, and the guitar sound is equally satisfying. Very old school high-end tremolo is waiting here like a creature in the depths of hell, and the delivery of it all is just tops. The Hoffman brothers in the self-titled era would be hard pressed to create riffs equally as evil and intense.There is a relative lack of soloing, but the riff style does not necessitate leads and it does perfectly fine without many of them.

The rhythm section can't be underestimated either. Well, at least the drummer. The bass is probably perfectly fine but is relatively inaudible either due to distortion (my guess) or tone issues, and as such kind of detracts from the grinding feel of several songs on the album like "In the Shadow of His Blasphemous Glory". The drumming however, is fantastic. It takes the elements of death metal drumming and sprinkles them exactly where necessary, hitting hard and creating the cacophonous din that surrounds the vile guitar playing. Not to mention, the phenomenal drum tone that accompanies the playing.

That said, being the style of death metal it is - grinding, old-school atmospheric New York style - it does becoming mildly irritating for a long listen. Unfortunately, Blaspherian does not accompany the blistering sections with the hardcore breakdowns that they crave, and the doomy sections lack something like a possible organ part not too dissimilar to Infester's 'To the Depths...In Degradation'. And let's not forget that the band is essentially Incantation worship.

Not to mention that the band relies on very similar song structures for the latter half of the album - doom. They evolve from the pure evil mayhem of the first few songs to a string of doomy songs, until "Exalted..." breaks the relative monotony. Not knocking much for this because the songs themselves are delightfully evil.

Overall, the sound and atmosphere of the band is far and beyond most modern death metal that even tries to ape the old-school feeling and for that they get high marks.

Pros:

- A modern approach to Incantation worship
- Low-end heavy NYDM production from the early 90's
- Riffs for days, hell for months
- Phenomenal drumming and drum tones

Cons:

- It may be a modern approach, but it's still Incantation worship
- Not enough variation where subtle layering would be beneficient
- Reliant on similar song structures for most of the latter portion