Embryonic Devourment- Heresy of the Highest Order Review

 

Embryonic Devourment bring some super technical brutal death metal that bounces all over the place yet somehow manages to stay cohesive whilst only hanging on by the slightest thread. The guitar playing here is pure insanity honestly, and the bass mostly follows suit in terms of bringing the mayhem along with it. Dissonant, jumbled, fret fondling is here in spades. A good portion of this album is a fairly disorienting experience. The track "Heresy of the Highest Order" is the highlight for me. The track features some straight up amazing soloing. It also has some extremely straightforward old school heavy metal style riffing that manages to fit in perfectly among the dissonant passages that surround it.

Admittedly there are some sections of this album that go overboard with the wankery for my taste. These moments can become tiresome and honestly if the moments of greatness didn't click so hard with me I probably wouldn't return to it. The severely slowed, lurking vibes emanating from "Murder of the Ancients" are another standout that make those tiresome moments not so bothersome. I really feel like with a little bit of time at the drawing board these guys could become something really special. It's obvious from the moments of pure wankery that they're extremely skilled. The highlights here also show that they carry the ability to write some very interesting songs and passages that are nothing short of perfect. Hopefully in the future they'll offer something just a tad dialed back chock full of moments similar to the chunks on this one that shine through the jangly strings of notes.

Overall Heresy of the Highest Order is a fun frenzy of scatter brained death metal. It's chalk full of interesting twists and turns and managed to keep me on edge throughout the runtime. If you enjoy yourself some intensely note heavy guitar playing there's plenty of sections here to please the ear. JAM IT!!!

Void Column - Admonition of Clarity Review

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Void Column are a death/doom band coming out of Quebec, Canada. The band have a few demos under their belt and have come again with an EP featuring 16 minutes of murky, doomy debauchery. Masters in the art of guitar based hypnotism, Admonition of Clarity proves to be a killer time that will leave you confused and quacking like a Lovecraftian chicken.

The thing that jumps out automatically is the insanely thick, bogged out guitar tone. The presence of nastiness is profound to say the least. These guys dish out some wicked grooves. The one that demolishes the close of opener "Mortal Damnation" is quite a doozy. "Pillars of Nothingness" sinks it's claws into you with a stupidly catchy, hypnotic riff. "Thanatophobia" gives a nice little synth interlude also, as if the superb riffage wasn't enough to keep things interesting. The content here is fairly primitive but it appeals to the needs of my lizard brain that craves little else aside from some knuckle dragging fun.

Overall Admonition of Clarity leaves quite the impact despite it's extremely short runtime. 16 minutes was not nearly enough to satisfy my hunger for the goods that Void Column dish out. Those who like their death metal gross and spooky will be pleased with this one. It's become clear over the past few years that anyone playing extreme metal with the word "Void" anywhere near their name are more than likely going to slay you in some beautifully grotesque fashion. This is definitely a band to keep an eye on for whenever they concoct a gooey full length for the masses. There's no doubt in my mind that whenever it comes it will be strong because I could easily see myself jamming something three times this length from them and enjoying every minute of it. JAM IT DAMMIT!