Genre - Death Metal
Poland seems to be somewhat of a hotbed for rabid death metal
lately, Embrional are another to squirm out of that festering pit this year
with their debut release Absolutely
Anti-Human Behaviors, and containing members with some degree of pedigree who’ve
previously been affiliated with the likes of Besatt and (Polish)Arkona, initial
expectations were high enough and I was interested to see how they made the
transition to death metal. Everything about Absolutely
Anti-Human Behaviors initially screamed ‘old-school’, from the impressive
logo to the fantastically repulsive and offensive artwork, yet what greeted me initially
from the first notes of “Possessed by Evil” wasn’t at all exactly what I
expected. Basically if odd time signatures and fancy fret board thrashing is
your thing then this will be right up your street.
Frantic, highly technical and harsh guitar riffs are
standard fare here, laced with a really heavy gritty production that gives them
a real huge metallic grinding tone (thus perfect for eliminating the falses). There
is time for a bit of melody, which crops up periodically throughout which I
must add is actually rather impressive in the shape of some cavernous guitar
leads. A good example would be in the instrumentals which serve more purpose
than just pointless filler with “Necropolis” being exceptionally impressive. The
drum work, well how do I put this? Don’t like blasting? Well too fucking bad,
because there isn’t much else, though it does slow down a bit from time to time
so you can apply some antiseptic to those blisters and skid marks on the back
of your skull before being repeatedly thrown back into the whirlwind of speed centred
technical madness again. The vocals themselves are fairly pedestrian, a deep
gravelly roar and while nothing earth shattering do the job well enough.
What I don’t like about Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors is
at times it all becomes a bit much and ends up a bit of a repetitive blur, a lot
of the songs are too similar; this is a heavily saturated style of death metal
and one that has been done countless times before and brings nothing particularly
fresh or exciting to an already cluttered table. What I do like about it is while
being a heavily intricate work, it doesn’t sacrifice the atmosphere which was
all so important to death metal back in the early days. It combines just the
right amount of atmosphere and technicality for a fusion which lies somewhere
in between Morbid Angel and Origin; I suppose if you want a comparison,
countrymen Decapitated wouldn’t be too far off. If fannying about with
keyboards and synths are your thing, then avoid, for those who like it fast and
furious with an intensity and precision that will leave your brain in knots then
I’d certainly suggest a listen.
7/10
SOunds like - Decapitated, Vader, Hellspawn
Originally written for Metalcrypt
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