I gave this France-based death metal band's last release, the 2012 EP Shattered Ante Mortem Illusions, an 8.5 here on this very site, and while that seems high for an EP by a band who you may have very well never heard of, it was for good reason, and, here, I'll give their new one an 8.5 too. Here's why: “Devising Our Own Chains” takes the band's Bolt Thrower-meets-Asphyx sound and adds in Peaceville-Three agony via the guitar work before it stomps across the battlefields (always a war with these guys). Here's another reason why: same goddamn song, final 20 seconds of it; you won't hear a better build and release in DM all year. 

Some more reasons why: the grinding of “Manicheism Inertia”, the trudging mid-tempo of the title track, the fact that this band actually manages to have emotion in their death metal, the feeling once this EP is over that something absolutely important just happened even though it's only 18 minutes long. This band takes their time between albums (their one and only was in '09), but there's enough satisfaction to be gained from listening to their EPs to make that wait totally reasonable. Plus, why rush art? And considering how tough it feels some days to find death metal that can reasonably be called “art,” I think we should give Affliction Gate as much time as they need (having said that, speed it up, guys: we want a new full length before 2020).