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The idiosyncratic methodology of Portland’s Ænigmatum is instantly apparent from the whip-start blast of “Forged From Bedlam”, the opening track of their second album Deconsecrate. While the pace is frenetic, speed is never a crutch to be relied upon, but rather one deliberate device in a sprawling collection of melodically precise and technically riveting fragmented death shards. The eight songs on Deconsecrate constitute a labyrinthian structure of twisting nuanced complexity and intricate explosive chaos. Blood-freezing and incandescently beautiful at once, Ænigmatum temper their withering elaborate intensity with astonishingly elegant melodic passages carved into the mind, like towering marble hallucinations. Immersing in this album, one might be forgiven assuming they’d stumbled upon a lost obscurity of mid-90s Gothenburg, the dark harmonies, the dual guitars, the staggering rhythm section; but in fact Ænigmatum have bequeathed a startlingly ambitious paragon of mystifying esoteric death metal magnificence.

Ascended Dead return like abyss winds surging skyward from the ninth circle of Hell. New album Evenfall Of The Apocalypse heralds the dawn of the final march to extermination via barely-controlled death metal chaos and form-destroying necromancy.

Ascended Dead play death metal the ancient way with an intrinsically malign pedigree and methodical cruelty scarcely heard nowadays. Flesh-peeling intensity at warp-speed, technically-frenzied leads that cut straight through bone and a relentless annihilating force that rarely ceases long enough to take a breath. Yet amidst this fiery conflagration a wholly deliberate and fanatical attention to detail and craft remain undeniable, allowing the pandemonium a distinct structure and memorability.

While the band has more than enough skill and ability to perform a darkly acoustic piece like “Passage To Eternity,” a rare moment of respite, repeated spins through Evenfall Of The Apocalypse only serve to perpetuate Ascended Dead’s inexorable place at the vanguard of violent real death metal, carrying the banner into the future.

2014 edition on Misanthropic Spirit Records