By: Richard Maw
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 15/09/2019
Label: Unique
Leader Records
For those death metal fans expecting
endless blasting, look elsewhere. For those who want a pit destroying festival of
riffs: look no further. This is Dyscarnate’s best album so far and a real beast
of modern death metal.
“With All Their Might” CD//DD//LP track
listing:
1).
Of Mice And Mountains
2. This Is Fire!
3. Iron Strengthens Iron
4. Traitors In The Palace
5. To End All Flesh Before Me
6. Backbreaker
7. All The Devils Are Here
8. Nothing Seems Right
2. This Is Fire!
3. Iron Strengthens Iron
4. Traitors In The Palace
5. To End All Flesh Before Me
6. Backbreaker
7. All The Devils Are Here
8. Nothing Seems Right
The Review:
Horsham's
finest death metal act... Actually, due to line up changes and band members
relocating elsewhere: make that the UK's finest death metal act return here
with their third full length release. Previous albums “Enduring The Massacre” and “And
So It Came To Pass” were slick and powerful beasts which utilised state of
the art production and first class musicianship to make this trio sound like an
army marching through the speakers.
The
band continues their upward trajectory here with yet another improvement on
their sound in terms of song writing, production and playing. Opener “Of Mice And Mountains” is simply
immense. The heaviness reached here is staggering, as it is on “This Is Fire!” The quality of playing
and production would just have been unthinkable a few years ago for an
underground band. Henry Bates may have departed his bass and vocals role in
2015, but the band has found the right man in Al Llewellyn to replace him. As a
unit the band work incredibly well- even if there is no doubt that music like
this is recorded piecemeal and by making full use of digital technology these
days. Gone are the days of Scott Burns running a reel to reel and maybe using a
trigger on the snare drum, but that approach could never capture what we can
hear on this muscularly impressive record.
Material
wise, this is not as brutal as “Enduring
The Massacre”- in terms of out and out speed and aural savagery- but it is
heavier. The riffs are weightier, the sound is bigger and the band deadlier. “Iron Strengthens Iron” will be familiar
to those of you have been looking out for preview album tracks- and it is a
kind of catchy “single” (please don't mistake this for an actual catchy pop
tune- I am talking catchy like “Heartwork”
or “Where The Slime Live”, not
American Idiot).
The
heavy atmosphere and weight of riffage continues with “Traitors In The Palace”, but the pace picks up on “To End All Flesh Before Me”- even if
the tempos remain slower than you might expect from the band's earlier records.
These tracks are a great example of Dyscarnate spreading
their wings a little and experimenting with more Sabbathian tempos- even if
they retain the double kick and quick pick straits of death metal. The pit
slamming approach continues on “Backbreaker”
while “All The Devils Are Here” is
head-banging nirvana.
At
eight tracks, this record is the perfect length; it has enough to leave you
wanting more and has great depth to the tracks on offer. The epic closer “Nothing Seems Right” caps off the album
in unusual and wing spreading style. There are things on the album which would
not have appeared on their previous two albums- different atmospheres, lyrical
themes of existential angst, will to power and so on.
For
those of you expecting endless blasting, look elsewhere. For those who want a
pit destroying festival of riffs: look no further. Their best album so far and
a real beast of modern death metal.
“With All
Their Might”
is available to preorder/buy here
Band
info: facebook
