Awakening

I, for one, am appalled that this album has gone eight years without a review. I'm glad to do it myself.

This, here, is a very convincing slab of brutal death metal from Russia--to my ears, something like Russia's answer to Suffocation. Now, I say that with some reservation--of course any brutal death metal band is going to sound kind of like Suffocation if done right; after all, they set the standard for the subgenre. And yet, listening to this, I can't help but feel that the comparison is more than superficial.

The reason I say this is because of the style of riffs and the pummeling, highly skilled rhythm section. The riffs are brutal, chug-heavy but often more complex than mere slam riffs, with spare moments of deep-toned melodicism and a variety of rhythmic concepts on display. The speed seems mostly locked into a mid-paced groove, occasionally taking a slow passage and alternating between a half-time and double-time feel on the drums--a common technique in brutal death metal, but no less effective here. Moments where the speed picks up feel considered and deliberate, instead of obligatory or thoughtless--they're just as groovy and engaging as the slower sections. This band has done its homework, and knows how to work the gas and brakes.

In departure from the prior comparisons to Suffocation, the vocalist sounds little like Frank Mullen, lacking the high harmonic overtones of Frank's meaty gutturals. Rather, his approach is bassier, rounder--basically a pig squeal, but lower and more sustained than the typical example. If anything, the vocalist is the one low point of the album--his performance is the one thing lacking in character, sounding more like dozens of others of garden-variety deathgrind and deathcore vocalists I've long forgotten the names of. If that puts you off, it shouldn't--musically, it maintains its brutality while also presenting a level of sophistication worth listening for. The vocals may not be my preferred style, but they're not bad, fitting the music adequately and providing a committed, passionate performance. I simply prefer vocals with more definition and character--but for a brutal band, the approach on display here is fairly common, so it's a criticism that cannot be seen as unique to this album.

Another thing to note, as opposed to my prior comparison to Suffocation, is that this album only features one guitarist, and unlike Suffocation, this album does not really have guitar leads in the conventional sense. Instead it has tightly-constructed riff passages of varying dynamic intensity, a structural approach that feels satisfying without the need for the instrumentalists to show off beyond the needs of the song. The one guitarist fills up the space wonderfully, as does the bassist, who keeps it straightforward but is very proficient. On album highlights "Primordial Evil" and "Crowd of Degenerates," melodic tremolo-picked passages break up flurries of power chords, in a manner reminiscent of Hate Eternal or Immolation, and the riffs never get tiresome in spite of the atmospheric similarity between tracks. while on slower numbers like the overwhelming "Inevitable Punishment," they channel Dying Fetus by way of more neanderthalic passages and strangulating slam riffs. It's good shit.

As an album, it's a cohesive statement of well-crafted brutal death metal, every bit as engaging as the American luminaries I've compared it to. Ossuary Anex have a few other full-lengths out, and I'm looking forward to checking them out after my experience with this one. Overall, it's a very polished, enjoyable experience for anyone familiar with the style and always on the lookout for more. I hope the rest of their stuff is this good.