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░ ██ ██ Artist: Sabbatory ██ ██
▓ █░░ ■█ Album: Endless Asphyxiating Gloom █■ ░░█
■ █▓▀ █ Year: 2014 █ ▀▓█ ░
█ ▓ Rel. Date: 2015-02-07 ▓ █
▒ ▒ Genre: Death Metal ▒ ▒
█▄ ░ Label: Unspeakable Axe Records ░ ▄█
░ █▄ ░ Source: CD ░ ▄█
░ █▓ Type: Album ▓█ ░
▓ █ Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo █ ░ ▓
▓ █ █ ░ ▓
▄ ■ ■ ▓ ■
░█ █░ ▀
█ Autothrall is getting so jaded with this style █
█ that he should buy a lager for every old school █
█ oriented death metal act that comes along out of █
█ the ether and doesn't immediately tick him off by █
█ sounding like a direct approximation of either the █
█ Swedish originators or the American cavern █
█ core-fathers. So by that policy, he might owe █
█ Canadians Sabbatory at least a six-pack of some █
█ lite beer, because while they clearly owe a lot to █
█ Autopsy, Repulsion, Death and a number of other █
█ antiquities, he didn't feel like they were just █
█ cutting and pasting any particular record, but █
█ trying to revisit the late 80s/early 90s with █
█ their own time machine and put together a pastiche █
█ of what they found there. Not that it makes for a █
█ particularly good record, or a refreshing one, but █
█ this was tolerable. █
█ The lower-end tremolo picked riffs no longer seem █
█ as malevolent as they once did on Scream Bloody █
█ Gore, Leprosy or Slowly We Rot. The mortician has █
█ turned over his keys to the new leasers and gone █
█ into a well deserved retirement. But Sabbatory █
█ write songs with a distinguishable opening, middle █
█ and end, while shifting lanes from the faster █
█ subterranean slaughter to a morbid groove, tinny █
█ little leads that at least attempt to graft some █
█ additional depth onto what are really █
█ straightforward tunes. Pluggy, ugly bass lines █
█ woven straight into the rhythm guitar's █
█ underbelly, and splashy raw drumming which doesn't █
█ focus too much on extreme metal techniques, but █
█ more on laying out an appropriately dingy groove. █
█ The vocals are hardly going to reinvent the wheel, █
█ but they're ghoulish growls with a tail end of █
█ ghastly sustain and seem appropriately humble in █
█ the context of the level of nuance and quality put █
█ into the riffs. Once in awhile, they'll lay out a █
█ generic d-beat ("Infantasy") or other annoyance, █
█ but these were at least not dominant portions of █
█ the disc. █
█ Ultimately, I don't want to get into the habit of █
█ allowing 'okay' albums to distract me from the █
█ tedium death metal has suffered of late, and █
█ Endless Asphyxiating Gloom is just that: okay. A █
█ lesser of two evils when I'm faced with another █
█ band that wants to steal Left Hand Path or Severed █
█ Survival from their creators, but I definitely █
█ banged my head out to a few tunes like "Being, Thy █
█ Eternal Perplexor" and "The End of a Pessimistic █
█ Voyage", if only because I had nothing really else █
█ to do at the time. If you've got room in your █
█ brain for another death metal throwback, Sabbatory █
█ could occupy that space without insulting or █
█ boring you too excessively, but they by no means █
█ offer an ample replacement for the scores of █
█ genuine classics from the epoch they identify █
█ with, and there are more creative pastures to pick █
█ from, as few and far apart as those might be in █
█ the spectrum of extreme metal redundancy. In the █
█ meantime, I'll hold aside a six-pack for these █
█ chaps at least not sucking. █
▓ ▓
▒ ▒
░ 1. Being, Thy Eternal Perplexor 4:52 ░
░ 2. Hypnotic Regression 3:14 ░
░ 3. Corrosive Decay 4:53 ░
░ 4. Infantasy 4:18 ░
░ 5. Endless Asphyxiating Gloom 5:17 ░
░ 6. The End of a Pessimistic Voyage 5:16 ░
░ 7. Orbiting Obscuron 4:46 ░
░ 32:36 ░
░ ▒ ▒
▓ █ ░ ▓ ░
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