Azarath

Blasphemer's Maledictions

Written by: PP on 07/11/2011 03:21:15

Whenever one ventures into the field of Polish death metal, you know you're in for a brutal and blackened ride of exemplary performance in how the genre is meant to be played. Azarath, now on their fifth album "Blasphemer's Maledictions", are one such band, who successfully blend together the pummelling nature of death metal with the blackened and brooding ambiance of black metal releases, and they do so with a Necrosodom taking over the vocal duties and switching to guitar from his previous role as the bassist for the band. Yes, the names used in extreme metal are fuckin' ridiculous.

Throughout the course of the album it is difficult to decide whether you want to judge it as a black or a death metal release. For the latter, the soundscape is almost too vicious and too blackened to fit in with the standard in the genre, but for the former, it's also too fast and technical in nature. So although the black metal inspired machine-gun drumming accompanies most songs, the band aren't afraid to delve into technically impressive sections, serpentine-riffs, thick death metal growls, and all the usual stuff associated with the genre. Whichever the style, the overall feeling is that Azarath are very competent.

However, therein lies the problem. Despite slaying with borderline insane solos or semi-catchy growls, Azarath sound all too much like your 'typical' band in the genres. They make no effort in sticking out or thinking outside of the box, instead opting to play both genres together as one would expect. In one sense that's a good thing, because Azarath are very good at what they do. Not amazing, but better than your average death metal release for sure. But as a listener, one is left hoping for some more variation by the time last song "Harvester Of Flames" finishes. Too many songs simply blend in together. Consequently, the band earns a good score but with the afterthought of not being near the top releases in the genre this year.

7

Download: Behold The Satan's Sword,
For the fans of: Necrophobic, Stillborn, Infernal War
Listen: Myspace

Release date 29.06.2011
Witching Hour Productions

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