It’s been 15 years since I reviewed an album from Indiana’s war mongering Invasion. It was 2002s Bezerk Artillery Barrage and it was for Digitalmetal.com. It was a solid release of death metal and one of the first, if not the first US based band I hard heard utilizing a Swedish HM boss/Sunlight guitar tone. I missed 2010s Orchestrated Kill Maneuver, but by all accounts it was more of the same Swedish styled take on Death metal.

Not that founder and vocalist Peter Clemens hasn’t been busy.  We have covered his other projects right here in the mean time, Yellowtooth and Nocturnal Torment. Both solid projects, But I was particularly excited for Invasion’s return.

Well, even though armed with some of the guys from Bezerk Artillery Barrage, Invasion has steered away from the Swedish guitar tone of the last 2 albums and gone for a more direct. traditional US and even British death metal sound (think Benediction). And with the war themed still intact you can look no further than the likes of Jungle Rot, Bolt Thrower, Humiliation with some added classic USDM speed thrown in.

Not quite a full on tank-like trundle as the above peers, but with plenty of mid paced, thunderous double bass rumbles and chugs mixed with ample Floridian death/thrash (I’m getting a heavy, thrasher Malevolent Creation vibe on this one) and beefy Mid West  death metal blasts make for a satisfying death metal assault that checks all the boxes. Throw in ample, perfectly placed WWII movie and historical samples to start almost all the tracks and you get a damn solid effort and the shift in guitar tone from the suddenly trendy (yet still enjoyable HM boss sound), is less of an issue.

All 9 WWII themed songs hit home. None of them suck , but none of them are truly stunning-this is no Hail of Bullets, but just all around good solid burly death metal. Tracks like opener “I am the Enemy”, The Divine Wind”, “Dying on the Beaches of Normandy” (with a very effective Saving Private Ryan sample) and personal favorite “A Satisfying Death” are all enjoyable and re-playable, so long as you are not expecting world changing death metal.

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