After shifting from a gore/pure slam band into a more rounded, complete death metal band with Autopsychosis, these Russians made my 2013 year end -list in a year full of great, brutal metal. With their new album, Gravenous Hour, the band have elevated themselves once again, with an album that is sure to be considered one of the beast brutal death metal albums of the year, if not the last few years.

Simply put, Gravenous Hour, has the potential to be a classic album in the genre. While still full of utterly devastating brutish slams and techy pinch harmonic blasts, the band has locked into a balance between purely bludgeoning and crafty, skillfu , sneakily memorable riffs that make the album something truly special. There are plenty of influences to be heard here such as newer Aborted and any of the current top tech/brutal death crop. But overall, it has the same overarching feel of Suffocation’s early work, with a masterful sense of groove and brutality that simply elevates the genre. Yeah, this is a rare, perfect album. One of those pieces of work that leave me physically exhausted after they finally end.

As you can tell from the cover, there’s less of a traditional gore and guts theme and more alien/sci-fi -aura, and that shows in the material. “In the Dark of Stars” starts things off with a atmospheric build before “Blinded Sultan”, a song with a slam about 2:18 and 4:40 with such a low end that it bottomed out to the point it was beyond normal hearing ranges and literally broke my truck’s Alpine stereo system speakers (you will be getting a bill, guys!) So with that opener laying waste to everything, the following tracks have a high bar to reach, but they ALL do. But not just in the slam department, which, trust me on this, will murderfuck your ear canal with the density and gravity destroying bad intentions of a black hole’s dick (“Lords of the Nihil”, “After Omega”). Tracks like “Critical Black Mass”, “The Long Bright Darkness”, “Monastery of Nothing” and “Ghoul Inquisitor” have some more depth and clever, but still brutal transitions, melodies and harmonies that shimmer and glisten under the sheer heft of the slams.

The production by Arkady Navaho at Cosmos Studios (T.H.R.O.N., Obstetrical Palsy), who is previously unknown to me, is also one of the stars of the show, allowing the album to be truly devastating but crystal clear at the same time. Like I mentioned earlier, some of the low end drops are just ridiculous (maybe he should get the bill?) The vocals of Igor Filimontsev are also perfect, being powerful and deep, but not comically guttural or ‘burpy’ (see Wormed).

The Gravenous Hour is a brutal, perfect masterpiece that should be revered for years to come. And in a year that has seen Unique Leader Records and tech/brutal death metal deliver some stunning releases, this and First Fragment‘s Dasein are is the genre’s crowning achievements in 2016 and possibly beyond.

[Visit the band's website]

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