Symphonies of Blasphemy

This may be the worst band name in death metal. Expecting them to sound like Macabre, I was completely blown away by how actually "death metal" this album is. The album kicks off instantly with a heavy, headbanging typical death riff with death growls that slows down into a bouncy riff that generates into a quick moment of doom metal. This beginning is a good sign of things to come and sums up the album perfectly.

Overall the album maintains ferocity with a constant set of thrashy riffs that are complemented by great heavy-as-fuck, mid-tempo headbanging passages, as death metal should have. The sense of rhythm is always present in making all the riffing fit together. They even slide in some short, awesome groovy riffs throughout the album which give a nice heavy, "bouncing" feel that last just long enough to break into a nice doom passage or blastbeats.

My only complaint with this album is that the guitar tone is a little generic. The distortion doesn't really do it for me. Although it is fairly typical of the death metal bands at the time, it really takes away from what could be even more crushing heaviness and perhaps a more brutal guitar sound if they kept some of the mid-range tones. This minor detail doesn't take away too much from the quality of the album though. This isn't the best album, but if you dig heavy, groovy death metal, this will definitely please you.