Planetary Devastation

Here's another top-notch Filipino extreme metal band that long time devotees of the death metal genre will certainly dig. To all those who haven't heard of Toxemia, they are Philippine-based death metal band who plays a pretty 'true to the music, fuck the fame and money' type of extreme metal music. That said, this only means that those of you out there who are true aficionados of the genre knows how nasty their materials can be.

Now that I have given you people a little background about the band, let us talk about Planetary Devastation. This full-length album is the band's debut record and it holds 9 unambiguous piece of classic death metal tunes that will absolutely blow the audiences' brains away. What I love about the tracks here is that it is pretty straightforward and it carries that 'in your face' attitude of the early extreme metal bands from the late 80s and early 90s. Listening to the whole album reminded me a lot of the raw, dark and doomy old school death metal approach of Incantation, Autopsy, and Disembowelment. The very dreadful kind of enigmatic aura and the obscure energy that the tracks convey is what made this record superior to any of it's peers coming from the Philippines.

The piercing cry of the guitar riffs perfectly blends well with the awesome drum sound and the vociferous tone of the bass. All the instruments, plus the vocal delivery, works exquisitely in unison as the album conjures up an ambience of pure malevolence. The murky production of the album is also one of my likings. It is one of the primary reasons why the whole material has a reputation of being a sect in the death metal breed.

Overall, Planetary Devastation is an album that is highly recommended to all pundits of death metal music that has a more darker and more fervent vibe. This is a goddamn classic and it should be recognized as such. It is everything that an elite death metal record should be made of.