If you go searching around on this here site for my review of Abysmal Dawn's 2011 disc, Leveling The Plane Of Existence, you will find everything I was about to say about this album: somewhere between Obituary and Morbid Angel lays this pure US death institution's sound, along with some blackened tones (see the guitar work in opener "Human Obsolescence") and even some Celtic Frost influence throughout (it's subtle, but it's there enough for me to notice, just like last time). Abysmal Dawn have slowly but surely become one of modern death's most reliable bands, the LA-based crew on their fourth album proving that consistency is their game (2006, 2008. 2011, and 2014, and four albums that are all very solid and very reliable). When I listen to any given one-minute part of, say, deathgrind bruiser "Devouring The Essence Of God" or groove-DM blaster "One Percent Incomplete" (a great mid-album one-two punch), this sounds like it can rival its predecessor's 8.5, and it can... but given some context, and given that a few more years of an unreal amount of extreme metal has passed and it's hard to justify going above an 8.0 for an album that isn't advancing much from the last (although "The Inevitable Return To Darkness" is a great moody step forward), this one is stuck at 8.0, which ain't a bad place to be. But the thing is, I don't actually want more from Abysmal Dawn; they give what they give perfectly, and in an era where technical death metal has tired itself out, the band's relatively no-frills approach to death is extremely refreshing.