DECAYING - One To Conquer

December 11, 2014, 9 years ago

(Hellthrasher Productions)

Gregg Pratt

Rating: 8.5

review black death decaying

DECAYING - One To Conquer

Man, here's one coming out of nowhere: I should have had some advance notice to this band's ass-kickery, given they're on their fourth album (putting out one a year since 2011!). And indeed, I've enjoyed past discs from this war-obsessed Martin Van Drunen-loving crew, the last one even putting them on my radar, but then they fell off, as it tends to go when you have a super generic death metal band name. But they're back on, and I hope they stay: from the cool cover art to the effective 42-minute run time, this one's a smoker through and through. The passionate vocals definitely bring to mind everyone's fave DM war-vet ghoul Van Drunen (to the point where I thought "that must be a guest appearance from the man himself"... but then I thought it again during the next song, and the next song...), and the war motif actually packs a punch here, like few bands really do (Hail Of Bullets and Bolt Thrower being good examples of bands who actually use the theme with power, not cliche). The "Seasons In The Abyss"-loving intro to first tune "Frequent Wind" is either outright homage or complete unintentional hijacking: either way, it's a blast to listen to, and a good way to kick off this album, which is a blast start to finish, the melodic thrash riffs fused into "The 38th Parallel" totally killing it, the 10-minute closer "Ho Chi Minh Trail" even managing to be captivating, the band's utilization of epic doom in their chugging death metal holding a power that few death bands manage to harness.



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