Decadent Delirium

This act appeared in the midst of the death metal explosion of the late-80’s but hailing from a not very well traversed place for death metal exploits, not many were those who managed to get a hold of their contribution to the thriving of the genre. Nevertheless, the guys persevered through the not very hospitable 90’s with a string of demos until they reached the coveted official release stage with the album reviewed here.

The band walk on the more brutal death metal path, the one straddling between the more intricate quirks of early Suffocation and the more primal bash of Cannibal Corpse as evident from “Descent to Avernus”, a diverse multifarious saga with interesting twists and turns some of which come with an uncanny sense of melody which would find a fuller realisation later on the Cryptopsy efforts. “Improbital Intemperence Infinite” is a short direct lasher with a few more intriguing crooked rhythms, and “Phobic Premonitions” tries to lure the listener with a portion of heavy doomy motifs, but the brutal chaos resumes before one falls asleep and reaches fever-pitch dimensions before long although there are several mid-paced chugs provided to alleviate the hyper-active fiesta.

“Disgorged Suppuration” overcomes a nice atmospheric operatic intro to carry on with the not very restrained aggressive rifforamas before the guys surprisingly settle for a nice melodic mid-tempo respite mid-way which influences the second half where things go towards the doomy fields. A welcome deviation to these ears that is given another fair treatment on “Nocturnal Usurper”, a lively technical shredder with very good fretwork shining among the frequent hectic jumps and jolts. “Famine of Egypt” is a busy frenetic technicaller the tempos changing every few seconds to a slightly dizzying effect, the band serving the already become customary slower interlude. The formula gets repeated with more or less audible modifications on the more speed-prone “Cryptorium of Enchantment”, and on the less predictable “Catalystic Winter” which relies on dramatic, less dynamic, also less interesting, accumulations to pull it through.

There are a couple of quiet meditative short instrumentals scattered around, those missing the vociferous shouty death metal vocals which rule over the proceedings with sombre, unflinching determination recalling Dave Ingram (Benediction). They perfectly fit the varied death metal kaleidoscope that aptly blends immediate, stripped-down dashes and more intricate pirouettes on nearly every track, the guys not feeling courageous enough to enter the technical death metal realms on a full-time basis. Flirting with the more complex side of the genre by all means provides the better moments here, and it’s a kind of pity that those moments haven’t been inserted more regularly.

Death metal was already entering a post-period at the time, with more playful digressions infecting its vulnerable body those brought by works like Entombed’s “Wolverine Blues” and Sentenced’s “Amok”, and it was even better to hear albums back then that stood firm on classic ground, keeping the genre alive in its non-contaminated form. The guys made one more attempt in this direction after the split-up, under the name Season of Pain (a self-titled demo, 1997), but that was an even shorter stint barely lasting a year. The band members got together in the new millennium, but death metal is a distant memory on the works of their next collaboration Born of Fire where the style is classic power metal. Well, whatever it takes to keep American 80’s metal on the forefront be it with rousing epic hymns or with delirious deathly odes.