Humiliation
Conflict. Over Verge Intrusion. Detest

12 full length albums since 2009 is not a band resting on its laurels. Malaysia’s tank tread Bolt Thrower worshipping maniacs are already in the process of yes, you guessed it, finishing album 13.

I’ve been reviewing their albums since Turbulence from the Deep and yea I have all their albums and eps.  I even interviewed singer Bear Bee and drummer Mudon around that time too.  With this amount of albums it’s a plug in and play. Some albums sound better than others and some are more memorable. 2020’s XI: Triumphant had one of the best productions the band had achieved. The opening 5 songs were all connected with similar song names and the opener “Tanjung Kunyit – The Beginning” started off the jump with deep bass heaviness and vintage Bolt Thrower influence. Their main source of inspiration.

This is one of my fave Humiliation albums. Conflict. Over Verge Intrusion. Detest [C.O.V.I.D.] was released at the end of 2021 in a limited edition vinyl format on H.M.S.S. Records. Limited to only 180 copies so no one had it. Until recently. Bring in Japan’s Bloodbath Records to put this out recently to a limited 500 cd copies and it’s remastered. The album is streamlined at 9 songs in 36 minutes.

“Sovereign State” leads the opening charge. From the previous album to this –  the drop in production is apparent as Conflict. Over Verge Intrusion. Detest is very raw on places. The opening is an homage to “Cenotaph” from Bolt Thrower. That classic riff is deliberate and swift.  The drum sound has an echo to it and could have used a more bass heavy tone.  The rumbling heaviness at the 2.34 part is killer with the bass guitar strumming reverberating chest cavities worldwide.

“The North” begins with drum stick clicks and gets into a doomier section.  The band have always had a tinge of Autopsy like doom to them. The song traverses into a monstrous heavy part. This would make a pit go wild. Hell I’d ride a tank into the pit and we could all go crushing bones and heads together. The lead riff is simple but excellent as the song just grinds you into smithereens. This is the signature Humiliation song. Has the doom and the Bolt Thrower mid-paced grinding heaviness. Bear grunting out his guts and he sounds in his prime. He has a distinct vocal delivery.  It’s a gruff like bark.

“Battle of Long Jawai” starts with stick clicks and then after the mid-paced heaviness gets into a vintage 1986 thrash speed. True headbanging material. The band then picks up the pace and gets into faster territory and the riffs almost have a punkish flair over the faster parts. This is a killer song.

Ending with “Victory Rising” the song is a bit quicker and the riffs are quite good. The guitar tone is pure Humiliation and this song actually strays a bit away from the Bolt Thrower worship and after Bear shouts out the song name, on the chorus, the song slows down to a doomy moment almost brushing elbows with Asphyx on this one folks. This is a pretty cool song with the various influences and galloping jump to it.

Conflict. Over Verge Intrusion. Detest is a good Humiliation album. The drop in production mars the songs a bit. At times the album had a band rehearsal  sound to it, with the raw production and stick clicks to start some of the tunes. If you compare the previous album to this the lack of punch to the guitars and drums are very noticeable. The songs on this would have more power if the production was punchier. The songs are still damn good and catchy and the sound of this album may have been what the band was striving for.  Regardless, Humiliation is still grinding our bones and bring on album 13 mofos – I cannot wait!

[Visit the band's website]
Written by Frank Rini
October 21st, 2022

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