Ablaze

I'm going to be honest. Other than a couple of older songs, I didn't really know much about Slovakia's Perversity when I first popped Ablaze into my CD player. The band's releases aren't exactly readily available in the U.S. I would think that it's safe to assume that many readers aren't too familiar either. For those not in the know, Perversity plays a style of death metal that merges modern brutality with a touch of the classic Floridian sound.

Ablaze is actually Perversity's fourth full-length, and it's a pretty solid effort. Overall the band has a brutal style, but it also incorporates an old school sound in the vein of Morbid Angel or Diabolic. The more modern brutality manifests itself through guttural vocals and some semi-technical riffing. There's also occasional bass noodling in songs like "Devoted to Perdition" and "The Banished." These factors give Ablaze a somewhat modern edge and keep the more old-school aspects from dominating the band's sound. Perversity also pays homage to classic death metal on Ablaze. For instance, there are not one but two intros on the album (One is at the beginning of the album and the second appears near the mid-point of the album...likely where Side B would start if this were vinyl.). Believe it or not, the intros actually add to the vibe of the album and don't feel like a nuisance that's only preventing a "real song" from starting. Unlike a lot of modern death metal, Ablaze has a relatively loose, human feel. Vocal duties are shared by Perversity's front man and one of the guitarists. Their low guttural and mid-range growls compliment each other well. The interaction between the vocalists can be somewhat imprecise, helping to add to the old-school feel. The drumming also adds to the loose quality by being slightly manic at times, yet the drums never become too sloppy. Further illustrating Perversity's love of the old-school, many of the guitar riffs recall vintage Morbid Angel, especially songs like "Hailing the Thieves of Souls" and "Blood of Hastur." While the guitars could generally be described as semi-technical, the band also knows when to stick with simplicity. "Devoted to Perdition" succeeds by providing some respite with it's plodding riffs, and "Blood of Hastur" will force listeners to slowly nod their heads to its crushing grooves. And Perversity isn't afraid to use a slightly sour, out-of-tune harmony riff in "The Banished" to make the listener feel uneasy. As with the rest of the album, this rawness is actually very endearing and helps the song stand apart from the others. In fact, after several listens all of the songs on Ablaze begin to reveal their own distinct character.

Perversity certainly isn't reinventing the wheel with Ablaze, but the band's blend of raw old-school style and modern brutal savageness definitely satisfies. This is competent and well-executed death metal with just enough of a unique voice to appeal to most genre fans. Perversity has made a new fan out of me. Now I'm going to try to track down the band's previous album to help tide me over until the next one drops.

Originally written for http://www.metalpsalter.com

I’m almost ashamed to admit that I can’t recall having heard of Perversity before; they’ve been around since the mid-nineties and have released three albums previous to Ablaze, but still I’m drawing a blank. I love brutal death metal, but I suppose you can’t keep track of everyone. Since the lot’s labeled as brutal death metal I assume they’ve changed a bit over the years, ‘cause to tell you the truth this ain’t all that brutal (well, it’s all relative).

A sombre piano line gets us in the mood for the surprisingly atmospheric music to come. Behind the diabolical starts off with a bit of a schizoid vibe with some unorthodox tempo changes and unusual riffing, but as soon as the blasting gets going I’m struck with a recipe of death metal lying somewhere in between old school and that of the brutal landscapes. My mind goes to the German Spawn, in particular their latest release, and with Perversity bearing the same overpowering and prominent growling vocals. A track like Hailing the thieves of souls provides the listener with such a sleek, slick and mean-ass guitar line; melodic yet oh-so-sinister. Backing it up is the very audible bass, rumbling and pummeling. As the production’s pretty much perfect the deep and heavy string-work really comes at you like a horde of undead soldiers looking for their next meal. There’s a great knack for catchy-as-fudge riffing, and a terrific ability to produce guitar lines that are both brutal and melodic.

Devoted to perdition is the slowest track of the lot, and its heavy, semi-chugging sound and tempo actually gets me thinking a bit of Morbid Angel, whereas the über-blasting that intertwines these heavy segments have more in common with the modern day brutal death metal scene of North America, just as I can’t help but feel a certain gory flair of Lividity on occasion. And as said before Perversity lands somewhere in between brutality and old school melody, occasionally providing the same kind of rampant riffing and blasting of Nile, but without the folksy parts.

Sounds messy and confusing? Well I can reassure you it’s most definitely not. There’s an innate talent to be found in Perversity; that of sounding tight-as-hell, mature and highly convincing (probably due to their many years in the game), but also surprisingly refreshing, despite the atmosphere of grave robbing old school and raging murderous brutality. This even comes through vocally with the main growl being a deep and commanding one and the back-up that of a gory, blood-dripping one. The production is ace as the sound is incredibly heavy and audible and the instruments mixed perfectly. The riffing’s as explained earlier supreme, and the drumming’s tight-as-hell and flawlessly smooth in its tempo changes. Ablaze is one mean-as-hell album and another great pick by Lavadome Productions.

Originally written for My Last Chapter

Slovakians Perversity have been steadily hammering away through 17 years and numerous line-up changes, but they only became really active in the 21st century as they started to put out their full-length efforts. Their style has been pretty typical of the brutal field, with the obvious influences of Suffocation, Immolation, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse and other US pioneers. However, they've made minor tweaks and alterations through the course of the first three albums, and while I can't say I fancied any of those releases, Ablaze feels like a tighter beast altogether, fashioning their slightly technical approach into a cohesive, dynamic range of options that keep the listener's attention even if there are precious few individual riffs of note.

Admittedly, this is a bit of a dry record in terms of its production, and not as savage as the last one Beyond the Reach of Heaven, but here the Slovaks compensate with a percussive approach in which the bass pops and surges along to the constant tantrums of the guitars. There are a lot of jerking, lurching rhythms here which create a clinical overtone to the music redolent of the 90s Pestilence (Testimony of the Ancients) in "Hailing the Thieves of Souls" or "Palace of Skin", perhaps with a bit of Gorguts in "Devoted to Perdition". A lot of start/stop, drop of a dime precision goes into their playing and the result is something that must be fun in the live setting where the audience must flail about radically to match the rhythmic variety. That said, I tend to feel that whenever this band blasts along with muted tremolos, they lose a bit of what catches the ear, so I was far more into the slower or mid-paced sequences over which Juraj Handzus' repressed growling feels more open and spacious.

The lyrics here are pretty good, and deal with a lot of the human sin and occult topics that the band have hit upon in the past. Despite the pretty straightforward, down to earth production, there's a tangible feeling of darkness pervading the material. I quite enjoyed the piano/synthesizer pieces like the intro "Reach of Hell" or the opening to "Necrophiliac Beast". Some of the tracks are clearly stronger than others, like the closer "Blood of Hastur" which seems to have a lot more to offer than the first few cuts, and there are not a whole lot of exemplary guitar lines which stand to memory, but what Perversity offer is a balance of choppy grooves, aggression and musicianship that at least hangs on to the attention, even if they don't exactly knock it out of the park, and offer little to truly distinguish themselves from so many hundreds of bands in their medium. All told, if you're into similar acts like their countrymen Craniotomy or Dementor, or really any brutal semi-tech death internationally, then Ablaze could be worth your time.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com