In to the Sound of Slaughter

A capable entry into the technical/progressive thrash/death metal roster which offers an appetizing “technicality vs. melody” mix on a regularly applied speedy background. The overall approach isn’t far from later-period Death, also capturing some of the less bridled riff-“salads” of Hellwitch when the sound gets more chaotic. Another close soundalike would be the guys’ compatriots Blaster only that here we have a bigger presence of stomping, slower passages and an insertion of quiet intros/outros/interludes which merits are a bit debatable.

The album starts with a fountain of gorgeous melodic hooks on “Opus Demontre” before things take both a more brutal and more technical, maybe a tad less melodic, turn on “Blasphemy & Bloodthirst”. An interesting deviation is offered on “A Cold Day in Heaven” which surrenders to atmospheric gothic soundscapes that work quite well on the bouncy death/thrashy layout. The delivery moves towards pure death metal execution on the dishevelled violator “The Cloud Fortress”, a fairly technical, but also kind of rushed number, before thrash takes over on the galloping delight “Living Flesh, Dying Soul”. “A Victim Shadow of Twilight” is a spell-binding instrumental piece, an immaculately achieved symbiosis of fast-paced dashes and gorgeous melodic pirouettes, not much technical show-off here. The latter, however, comes back in heaps on the excellent raging “A Wolfen’s Cry” which lets the bonus track “Portal of Misery” slip through the few cracks left, a hypnotic funereal doomster accompanied by pathos-like operatic vocals, the total opposite to the main shouty death metal ones.

A pretty good, promising start for the band who didn’t have very healthy competition in their homeland at that time save for the mentioned Blaster; but the follow-up only contained covers of various veterans (Kreator, Sodom, Slayer, Sepultura, etc.) neither of whom can be cited as tangible influences here. The promo pack that followed featured both albums put together, no new tracks, and it seems as though this saga has hit a creative cul-de-sac… or maybe not; maybe the guys are preparing for another slaughter to wipe out the non trve, and to put Anaflaxia, and respectively Anatolia, more prominently on the metal map.