Poland’s Azarath return with their sixth studio album, In Extremis.  Founded by Behemoth’s drummer Inferno, Azarath play a style of blackened death metal a kin to Krisiun, Behemoth, and maybe Diabolic to throw an American band in there.

In Extremis opens up with “The Truimph of Ascending Majesty” which opens up with cackling whammy bar dives and war like blast beats. This track eventually transitions to a unique clean tone outro   Vocally, Necrosodom demonstrates a similar bite to that of Alex Koysene of Krisiun fame. Generally what I find with this particular style of black/death is that bands seem to stick to a particular style of songwriting and stick with it throughout the whole album.  That in turn can sometimes get a bit monotonous.   There is enough going on throughout that this should hold your attention if you are a fan of this particular style of death metal.

“Let My Blood Become His Flesh” opens up with more of a Morbid Angel, Centurian vibe with aggressiveness of Inferno’s drum work. The song builds into an immolation style section with bends and pinch harmonics and harmonies with pinch harmonics.  The song continues into some epic melody following by some sick hellfire styled guitar solos. “Slain God” is another strong track open with some machine gun chop like attack from the string section.  There is a bit of a march feel to this that builds into a more open almost ethereal section.  Only beef with this particular track is that the spoken word portion later on is not really necessary especially for how relentless they are when they are focus on playing death metal.

Overall, the production is solid throughout and that is interesting given that apparently they recorded this album in more than one location.  All of the instrumentation breathes and nothing sounds muddled. “At the Gates of Understanding” is for me the catchiest song on the record. Opening up with ripping blast beats, Glen Benton-esque barking vocals and armed riffage ready to take down all of Christianity.

Azarath definitely are not reinventing the wheel with In extremis but they most certainly have built a foundation.  If you are a fan of any of the bands I mentioned earlier in this review then you should check this out.  It is varied enough where it does not become boring if you are willing to put the time into it. Pretty darn brutal. Breakout the inverted crosses and pentagram and enjoy the sacrilegious assault.

 

[Visit the band's website]

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