IMPRECATION - Damnatio Ad Bestias
March 30, 2019, 5 years ago
(Dark Descent)
This Texas five-piece know how to create what can really only be called classic death metal, the sounds on this, their second album, crawling out of the caves to pay homage to classic Warrior-esque DM moves through a raw production that gives things a raw, Autopsian spirit. But Imprecation aren’t just aping the greats, the band here throwing in tons of their own atmosphere and vibe, songs like the manic “Morbid Crucifixion” divebombing into the nearest cave but then taking us right out of it and heading over to the swamps of Florida.
I like it when the band blasts, but I like it even more when they take things low and slow; sometimes they do both in one song, as in the excellent “Beasts Of The Infernal Void”, where they show not only how well they do both sounds but how they can alternate between them effortlessly. “The Shepherd And The Flock” shows the band’s skill at atmosphere-laden DM riffing, the riffs just going, just awesome, and not hammering you over the head, rather, taking you on a journey. More than anything, Imprecation have heart and soul, and vibe; I expect nothing less at this point from anything stamped with the mighty Dark Descent logo (seriously, this is the best label happening in death metal in 2019).
