Conceived in Fire

Got the band debut early, pretty much upon release, thanks to a friend, a devout Christian and a regular church-goer; but since Slayer were still climbing up my appreciation ladder at the time, I didn’t dwell on the album for too long as it was by-and-large a Slayer-worship; an intense pulverizing old school thrash affair, to put it in another way; very well done. It was quite a few years later, towards the end of the decade, when that same guy bestowed upon me the band’s other creations among which I totally savoured the sophomore, this excellent complex death metal slab, a delightful mix of Death, Gorguts and Pestilence that sadly never received a distinguished sequel…

it didn’t cause with the follow-up “Inhabit” the guys became the founders of the metalcore movement… yep, no kidding here, the pull from the growing numetal camp became irresistible in the mid-90’s, and the band joined it readily, establishing themselves on the forefront of the movement with a string of passable, relevant for the genre albums.

For the band old fans the expectations for the album reviewed here mustn’t have been very high, but still there was hope, also faith, that with the entrance of the new millennium some old school vigour would be rekindled in this camp as well. Not quite. This is still a numetal recording but clings more towards the newly-spawned at the time deathcore camp. The major change from the few more recent outings is the added aggression, with death metal roaming around more freely but also in a somewhat dishevelled manner, consequently not leaving a very positive impression. In fact, it’s the less intense moments that deliver the better, like the creepy atmospheric “Symbiotic” and the hectic semi-technical “Distrust”, the loftier execution applied on those steering away from the ballast which comprises dirgy minimalistic groovers (3X3 We Carried Your Body”), abrasive doom-laden walkabouts (“The Poisoning”), and samey one-dimensional mid-paced chuggers (“Subtle Alliance”, “Black Seeds”). “Separation” separates itself from this group with a portion of wild less restrained death metal tunes, but apart from the equally restless, more classic-sounding headbanger “The Martyr” such openly dynamic occurrences are a rarity; instead, the guys insert the idyllic balladic all-instrumental cut “Into Again”, a somewhat awkward presence into an otherwise corrosive vociferous affair.

Bruce Fitzhugh’s venomous confrontational, shouty deathly vocals remain intact, and even produce a more heightened effect having in mind the more brutal musical approach, and his involvement may as well be viewed the biggest plus this outing has. The band have voted to bring back some of their death metal expletives for a change, but by retaining the modern skeleton all over they have failed to accentuate on the intended more brutal veneer, the latter sticking here and there not very effectively. This is a vacillating slab, the band feeling comfortable with their established numetal approach, but still making the effort to recapture some of their earlier passion, with the old school canons timidly pricking their way through the thick modern layer… a process which remained unfinished as the guys called it quits…

for a little while, though, as five years later they were back and revitalized, as “The Infinite Order” showed so well, still on the modern side but masterfully exhibiting a potent death/thrash mixture not far from Arch Enemy and the Germans Final Breath, the core leanings almost completely phased out. “Ghost Thief” is another decent showing although the delivery is less energetic, with repetitive mid-paced formulas disturbing the few more wayward rushes. No glaring pitfalls, the band are doing what they can best albeit on pretty irregular bases… a more tangible presence on the contemporary scene is necessary for the attainment of the targeted phoenix-like resurrection.