Murder Made God came to my attention with their first album, Irreverence, that was a nice little diamond in the rough that I came across in 2013 and ended up on my top ten list that year.  It was a killer brutal slam/tech death album that got many spins in the ‘ol CD player.  So now they have jumped on the phenomenal Comatose Music label to drop their newest album, Enslaved, which is a slight step backwards but still a top-notch album nonetheless.

Opting to leave out a pointless intro, the battery starts right form the beginning with “Victims”, featuring a swirling double bass backed riff frenzy and the powerful growl of vocalist George Triantafillou.  It’s obvious with the first few tracks that upping the technical factor was a main focus on this album, as you’re hit with a dizzying array of fret runs and furious blasts for the majority of the time.

The brakes are put on slightly on “Depression” with more groove focused riffing and a nice distortion filled outro designed to keep the heads bobbing.  The following few tracks hover around the 3 minute mark, make their violent appearance, and then move on.  You hear much more of an Hour of Penance and even a bit of Aborted creeping in on this album, which is not a bad thing at all.  The production is awesome, and is likely to turn off some with a bit of an over produced sheen to it. It’s worth noting that the band returns with the ¾ of the lineup from the first album, with the only member change being drummer Tolis B., but it’s hardly noticeable as this album is just as fast and crushing as the last one in the percussion department (if not a bit more so).

All in all a very solid entry into the 2016 tech-death field, and another big winner for Comatose.  It might have been the newness and the “wow” factor of the first one that makes this one just a bit of a letdown for me personally, so if you like this one definitely check out the first one to compare the two.

[Visit the band's website]

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