#apr25 — Public Fediverse posts

Morbific – Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh Review

By Al Kikuras

Finnish wizards of gore Morbific have been at this grimy game for half a decade, and to say the wear their ruptured hearts on their sleeves would be much more of an understatement than anything they have churned out of the chum factory on their previous two full-lengths or this, their third. The gloriously titled Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh drips with youthful enthusiasm, but as Ferox so eloquently described their absolute barbarism in his review of their sophomore outing, Squirm Beyond the Mortal Realm, Morbific aren’t here to break any new musical barriers; they’re just cracking skulls. These three Finnish grave robbers aren’t surgeons, they’re pugilists with all the finesse of a Sledge-o-Magic to a watermelon. If you don’t want to get messy, stay away from these three amigos, but if you’re into wearing a plastic schmatta in the front row at Sea World, gear up. Morbific are the Gallagher 2 to the Gallaghers of their progenitors. Take equal parts Autopsy, Carcass, and Mortician, whack them up in a blender, and you have the chunky, vile smoothie that is Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh. Even the logo is a noble homage to Impetigo sans prominently placed penis.

The aforementioned great gore grandads have been oft imitated generation after generation. First came General Surgery, then 45 different Razorback Records bands, but like copying an album to a cassette, and then copying that cassette to another cassette, the quality tends to decrease a bit with each duplicate. Some of the latest crop are more successful in their savagery, like Miasmatic Necrosis, Pathologist, Pharmacist, and the very close-to-my-heart/sphincter monikered Hemorrhoid. While I will visit these morgues on occasion for a quick whiff of formaldehyde, as an old head, I find myself going back to the actual classics where all the stuff started, and I fear that Morbific, as much as they mean well, pale compared to the much meatier outings of their forefathers.

Opening dirty ditty “Smut Club (For the Chosen Scum)” sets the seedy bar high, lurching like an unhoused leviathan on meth on the wrong side of the sidewalk in an affluent neighborhood. Vocalist/bassist Jusa Janhonen announces his arrival with a mighty ‘Pillard’ (a new phrase for ‘a cavernous roar that ends with a foul gurgle’ that is expected to be added to the Oxford English Dictionary in the fall of 2025). His equally foul bass breakdown at the minute mark has a satisfying squelch, especially when doubled by Olli Väkeväinen’s buzzsaw guitar tone, and Ollli’s brother, Onni’s refreshingly untriggered drum sound perfectly captures all the Discharge d-beat spirit of old. The literal gurgle under the ensuing keyboard interlude mid song is a shining moment in the proceedings that lends an air of almost innovation to what is otherwise a primarily paint-by-numbers OSDM affair. For example, the straightforward song two, “Panspermic Blight,” would benefit from a little more coloring outside of the chalk outlines.

It’s when Morbific bring new smells to the noxious bouquet that the listens are more rewarding. While their hearts are in the right place, in the case of this gory mess removed from the chest and planted on the grimy piss-soaked floor of a rest stop bathroom, rather than sticking, much of this rotted meat falls away from the bone. While the fuzz bass sound in the slow section of “Womb of Deathless Deterioration” gives me a rigor mortis hard on and the musical interlude “Stifling Stagnant Reek” is a very gloomy and interesting respite, moments like that make the more workmanlike passages pale by comparison. In the six minutes of the title track where they balance nuance with barbarity to great effect elevate things to a level that I hope Morbific can further harness to a greater focus on outing four.

Like a B-level horror film, Bloom at its core delivers all the blood and guts, but not always the heart and soul. As a relatively new jockey in this race to the grave, Morbific still have plenty of time to hone their craft to that of a razor sharp serial killer on a decade long spree as opposed to a Floridian meth head that got pissed off he/she/they got kicked out of a Circle K and decided to do the Dance of the Machetes in D Minor. It’s my firm belief that great things are yet to come from this truculent triumvirate, but this time around, the flesh needs a little more time to putrefy.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Me Saco Un Ujo Records
Websites: morbific.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/morbific
Releases Worldwide: April 21st, 2025

#25 #2025 #Apr25 #Autopsy #BloomOfTheAbnormalFlesh #Carcass #DeathMetal #Discharge #FinnishMetal #Hemorrhoid #Impetigo #MeSacoUnUjoRecords #MiasmaticNecrosis #Morbific #Mortician #Pathologist #Pharmacist #Review #Reviews

Morbific – Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh Review

By Al Kikuras

Finnish wizards of gore Morbific have been at this grimy game for half a decade, and to say the wear their ruptured hearts on their sleeves would be much more of an understatement than anything they have churned out of the chum factory on their previous two full-lengths or this, their third. The gloriously titled Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh drips with youthful enthusiasm, but as Ferox so eloquently described their absolute barbarism in his review of their sophomore outing, Squirm Beyond the Mortal Realm, Morbific aren’t here to break any new musical barriers; they’re just cracking skulls. These three Finnish grave robbers aren’t surgeons, they’re pugilists with all the finesse of a Sledge-o-Magic to a watermelon. If you don’t want to get messy, stay away from these three amigos, but if you’re into wearing a plastic schmatta in the front row at Sea World, gear up. Morbific are the Gallagher 2 to the Gallaghers of their progenitors. Take equal parts Autopsy, Carcass, and Mortician, whack them up in a blender, and you have the chunky, vile smoothie that is Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh. Even the logo is a noble homage to Impetigo sans prominently placed penis.

The aforementioned great gore grandads have been oft imitated generation after generation. First came General Surgery, then 45 different Razorback Records bands, but like copying an album to a cassette, and then copying that cassette to another cassette, the quality tends to decrease a bit with each duplicate. Some of the latest crop are more successful in their savagery, like Miasmatic Necrosis, Pathologist, Pharmacist, and the very close-to-my-heart/sphincter monikered Hemorrhoid. While I will visit these morgues on occasion for a quick whiff of formaldehyde, as an old head, I find myself going back to the actual classics where all the stuff started, and I fear that Morbific, as much as they mean well, pale compared to the much meatier outings of their forefathers.

Opening dirty ditty “Smut Club (For the Chosen Scum)” sets the seedy bar high, lurching like an unhoused leviathan on meth on the wrong side of the sidewalk in an affluent neighborhood. Vocalist/bassist Jusa Janhonen announces his arrival with a mighty ‘Pillard’ (a new phrase for ‘a cavernous roar that ends with a foul gurgle’ that is expected to be added to the Oxford English Dictionary in the fall of 2025). His equally foul bass breakdown at the minute mark has a satisfying squelch, especially when doubled by Olli Väkeväinen’s buzzsaw guitar tone, and Ollli’s brother, Onni’s refreshingly untriggered drum sound perfectly captures all the Discharge d-beat spirit of old. The literal gurgle under the ensuing keyboard interlude mid song is a shining moment in the proceedings that lends an air of almost innovation to what is otherwise a primarily paint-by-numbers OSDM affair. For example, the straightforward song two, “Panspermic Blight,” would benefit from a little more coloring outside of the chalk outlines.

It’s when Morbific bring new smells to the noxious bouquet that the listens are more rewarding. While their hearts are in the right place, in the case of this gory mess removed from the chest and planted on the grimy piss-soaked floor of a rest stop bathroom, rather than sticking, much of this rotted meat falls away from the bone. While the fuzz bass sound in the slow section of “Womb of Deathless Deterioration” gives me a rigor mortis hard on and the musical interlude “Stifling Stagnant Reek” is a very gloomy and interesting respite, moments like that make the more workmanlike passages pale by comparison. In the six minutes of the title track where they balance nuance with barbarity to great effect elevate things to a level that I hope Morbific can further harness to a greater focus on outing four.

Like a B-level horror film, Bloom at its core delivers all the blood and guts, but not always the heart and soul. As a relatively new jockey in this race to the grave, Morbific still have plenty of time to hone their craft to that of a razor sharp serial killer on a decade long spree as opposed to a Floridian meth head that got pissed off he/she/they got kicked out of a Circle K and decided to do the Dance of the Machetes in D Minor. It’s my firm belief that great things are yet to come from this truculent triumvirate, but this time around, the flesh needs a little more time to putrefy.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Me Saco Un Ujo Records
Websites: morbific.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/morbific
Releases Worldwide: April 21st, 2025

#25 #2025 #Apr25 #Autopsy #BloomOfTheAbnormalFlesh #Carcass #DeathMetal #Discharge #FinnishMetal #Hemorrhoid #Impetigo #MeSacoUnUjoRecords #MiasmaticNecrosis #Morbific #Mortician #Pathologist #Pharmacist #Review #Reviews

Morbific – Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh Review

By Al Kikuras

Finnish wizards of gore Morbific have been at this grimy game for half a decade, and to say the wear their ruptured hearts on their sleeves would be much more of an understatement than anything they have churned out of the chum factory on their previous two full-lengths or this, their third. The gloriously titled Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh drips with youthful enthusiasm, but as Ferox so eloquently described their absolute barbarism in his review of their sophomore outing, Squirm Beyond the Mortal Realm, Morbific aren’t here to break any new musical barriers; they’re just cracking skulls. These three Finnish grave robbers aren’t surgeons, they’re pugilists with all the finesse of a Sledge-o-Magic to a watermelon. If you don’t want to get messy, stay away from these three amigos, but if you’re into wearing a plastic schmatta in the front row at Sea World, gear up. Morbific are the Gallagher 2 to the Gallaghers of their progenitors. Take equal parts Autopsy, Carcass, and Mortician, whack them up in a blender, and you have the chunky, vile smoothie that is Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh. Even the logo is a noble homage to Impetigo sans prominently placed penis.

The aforementioned great gore grandads have been oft imitated generation after generation. First came General Surgery, then 45 different Razorback Records bands, but like copying an album to a cassette, and then copying that cassette to another cassette, the quality tends to decrease a bit with each duplicate. Some of the latest crop are more successful in their savagery, like Miasmatic Necrosis, Pathologist, Pharmacist, and the very close-to-my-heart/sphincter monikered Hemorrhoid. While I will visit these morgues on occasion for a quick whiff of formaldehyde, as an old head, I find myself going back to the actual classics where all the stuff started, and I fear that Morbific, as much as they mean well, pale compared to the much meatier outings of their forefathers.

Opening dirty ditty “Smut Club (For the Chosen Scum)” sets the seedy bar high, lurching like an unhoused leviathan on meth on the wrong side of the sidewalk in an affluent neighborhood. Vocalist/bassist Jusa Janhonen announces his arrival with a mighty ‘Pillard’ (a new phrase for ‘a cavernous roar that ends with a foul gurgle’ that is expected to be added to the Oxford English Dictionary in the fall of 2025). His equally foul bass breakdown at the minute mark has a satisfying squelch, especially when doubled by Olli Väkeväinen’s buzzsaw guitar tone, and Ollli’s brother, Onni’s refreshingly untriggered drum sound perfectly captures all the Discharge d-beat spirit of old. The literal gurgle under the ensuing keyboard interlude mid song is a shining moment in the proceedings that lends an air of almost innovation to what is otherwise a primarily paint-by-numbers OSDM affair. For example, the straightforward song two, “Panspermic Blight,” would benefit from a little more coloring outside of the chalk outlines.

It’s when Morbific bring new smells to the noxious bouquet that the listens are more rewarding. While their hearts are in the right place, in the case of this gory mess removed from the chest and planted on the grimy piss-soaked floor of a rest stop bathroom, rather than sticking, much of this rotted meat falls away from the bone. While the fuzz bass sound in the slow section of “Womb of Deathless Deterioration” gives me a rigor mortis hard on and the musical interlude “Stifling Stagnant Reek” is a very gloomy and interesting respite, moments like that make the more workmanlike passages pale by comparison. In the six minutes of the title track where they balance nuance with barbarity to great effect elevate things to a level that I hope Morbific can further harness to a greater focus on outing four.

Like a B-level horror film, Bloom at its core delivers all the blood and guts, but not always the heart and soul. As a relatively new jockey in this race to the grave, Morbific still have plenty of time to hone their craft to that of a razor sharp serial killer on a decade long spree as opposed to a Floridian meth head that got pissed off he/she/they got kicked out of a Circle K and decided to do the Dance of the Machetes in D Minor. It’s my firm belief that great things are yet to come from this truculent triumvirate, but this time around, the flesh needs a little more time to putrefy.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Me Saco Un Ujo Records
Websites: morbific.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/morbific
Releases Worldwide: April 21st, 2025

#25 #2025 #Apr25 #Autopsy #BloomOfTheAbnormalFlesh #Carcass #DeathMetal #Discharge #FinnishMetal #Hemorrhoid #Impetigo #MeSacoUnUjoRecords #MiasmaticNecrosis #Morbific #Mortician #Pathologist #Pharmacist #Review #Reviews

Morbific – Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh Review

By Al Kikuras

Finnish wizards of gore Morbific have been at this grimy game for half a decade, and to say the wear their ruptured hearts on their sleeves would be much more of an understatement than anything they have churned out of the chum factory on their previous two full-lengths or this, their third. The gloriously titled Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh drips with youthful enthusiasm, but as Ferox so eloquently described their absolute barbarism in his review of their sophomore outing, Squirm Beyond the Mortal Realm, Morbific aren’t here to break any new musical barriers; they’re just cracking skulls. These three Finnish grave robbers aren’t surgeons, they’re pugilists with all the finesse of a Sledge-o-Magic to a watermelon. If you don’t want to get messy, stay away from these three amigos, but if you’re into wearing a plastic schmatta in the front row at Sea World, gear up. Morbific are the Gallagher 2 to the Gallaghers of their progenitors. Take equal parts Autopsy, Carcass, and Mortician, whack them up in a blender, and you have the chunky, vile smoothie that is Bloom of the Abnormal Flesh. Even the logo is a noble homage to Impetigo sans prominently placed penis.

The aforementioned great gore grandads have been oft imitated generation after generation. First came General Surgery, then 45 different Razorback Records bands, but like copying an album to a cassette, and then copying that cassette to another cassette, the quality tends to decrease a bit with each duplicate. Some of the latest crop are more successful in their savagery, like Miasmatic Necrosis, Pathologist, Pharmacist, and the very close-to-my-heart/sphincter monikered Hemorrhoid. While I will visit these morgues on occasion for a quick whiff of formaldehyde, as an old head, I find myself going back to the actual classics where all the stuff started, and I fear that Morbific, as much as they mean well, pale compared to the much meatier outings of their forefathers.

Opening dirty ditty “Smut Club (For the Chosen Scum)” sets the seedy bar high, lurching like an unhoused leviathan on meth on the wrong side of the sidewalk in an affluent neighborhood. Vocalist/bassist Jusa Janhonen announces his arrival with a mighty ‘Pillard’ (a new phrase for ‘a cavernous roar that ends with a foul gurgle’ that is expected to be added to the Oxford English Dictionary in the fall of 2025). His equally foul bass breakdown at the minute mark has a satisfying squelch, especially when doubled by Olli Väkeväinen’s buzzsaw guitar tone, and Ollli’s brother, Onni’s refreshingly untriggered drum sound perfectly captures all the Discharge d-beat spirit of old. The literal gurgle under the ensuing keyboard interlude mid song is a shining moment in the proceedings that lends an air of almost innovation to what is otherwise a primarily paint-by-numbers OSDM affair. For example, the straightforward song two, “Panspermic Blight,” would benefit from a little more coloring outside of the chalk outlines.

It’s when Morbific bring new smells to the noxious bouquet that the listens are more rewarding. While their hearts are in the right place, in the case of this gory mess removed from the chest and planted on the grimy piss-soaked floor of a rest stop bathroom, rather than sticking, much of this rotted meat falls away from the bone. While the fuzz bass sound in the slow section of “Womb of Deathless Deterioration” gives me a rigor mortis hard on and the musical interlude “Stifling Stagnant Reek” is a very gloomy and interesting respite, moments like that make the more workmanlike passages pale by comparison. In the six minutes of the title track where they balance nuance with barbarity to great effect elevate things to a level that I hope Morbific can further harness to a greater focus on outing four.

Like a B-level horror film, Bloom at its core delivers all the blood and guts, but not always the heart and soul. As a relatively new jockey in this race to the grave, Morbific still have plenty of time to hone their craft to that of a razor sharp serial killer on a decade long spree as opposed to a Floridian meth head that got pissed off he/she/they got kicked out of a Circle K and decided to do the Dance of the Machetes in D Minor. It’s my firm belief that great things are yet to come from this truculent triumvirate, but this time around, the flesh needs a little more time to putrefy.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Me Saco Un Ujo Records
Websites: morbific.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/morbific
Releases Worldwide: April 21st, 2025

#25 #2025 #Apr25 #Autopsy #BloomOfTheAbnormalFlesh #Carcass #DeathMetal #Discharge #FinnishMetal #Hemorrhoid #Impetigo #MeSacoUnUjoRecords #MiasmaticNecrosis #Morbific #Mortician #Pathologist #Pharmacist #Review #Reviews

Allegaeon – The Ossuary Lens Review

By Maddog

Allegaeon’s six albums have received tumultuous marks in these halls. After their fantastic 2010 debut Fragments of Form and Function broke the score counter, Allegaeon sank as low as a 2.0 for 2016’s Proponent for Sentience in the eyes of then-tadpole GardensTale. While their latest outing recovered to a more respectable score, Allegaeon’s techy brand of melodeath has polarized socialites and critics alike. The band excelled with their riffier onslaughts and soaring melodies, but fell for the forbidden fruit of proggy excess. The Ossuary Lens showcases a leaner, meaner Allegaeon. I won’t be listening to it in a decade, but it’s a worthy soundtrack for today.

Allegaeon have trimmed their bloat but not their ambitions. For the uninitiated, Allegaeon’s brand of death metal resembles a noodlier Arsis, with its melodicism matched only by its technicality. That said, Allegaeonites will recall that these Coloradans would rather cover Yes or Rush than classic death metal. Allegaeon’s career has sometimes descended into a vulgar display of prog, combining protracted tracks with a penchant for flamenco breaks. These proggy elements live on, as Allegaeon gallops from punchy riffs to melodic leads to clean jams and back again. However, The Ossuary Lens displays newfound restraint. At 45 minutes, this is the band’s shortest album by a full eight minutes. Allegaeon’s escapades no longer leave a salty aftertaste, and the band’s forays into other genres no longer feel like pleas for a yardstick. The Ossuary Lens preserves its identity without getting lost in its own reflection.

Accordingly, The Ossuary Lens hits across both its bigly riffs and its creative tangents. The album’s fierier cuts are a refreshing return to form, with “The Swarm” reviving Elements of the Infinite’s infectious riffcraft. As hoped, these sections still ooze technicality, as guitarists Greg Burgess and Michael Stancel dominate their fretboards even in their most explosive moments. Meanwhile, Allegaeon’s genre-bending experiments feel creative but not overwrought. Most notably, “Dark Matter Dynamics” pulls a First Fragment stunt of seamlessly transitioning between jubilant strumming (courtesy of Adrian Bellue) and formidable death metal melodies. Indeed, The Ossuary Lens hits hardest when these forces unite. For instance, “Carried by Delusion” voyages from serene melodies to Revocation worship to blackened tremolos to upbeat bass and guitar solos to downcast crunchy riffs, eviscerating both my heartstrings and my neck. The Ossuary Lens’ moderation goes a long way. Rather than clobbering the listener with decades-long Spanish guitar jams, The Ossuary Lens presents its creative side through measured four-minute tracks. Tech, prog, melody, and home sweet death metal unite into a potent concoction.

While each piece of The Ossuary Lens is impressive in isolation, the album sometimes loses my interest. One reason is its lack of climactic moments. During tracks like “Scythe” and “Wake Circling Above,” I zoned out and had to abuse the rewind button, because there weren’t enough valleys, buildups, and peaks to keep me engaged. Another reason is sequencing; while the five middle tracks from “Driftwood” through “Dark Matter Dynamics” shine, the bookends fall short. The most predictable reason is production. Despite aiming for creativity and dynamism in their songwriting, Allegaeon continues to brickwall their albums into tepid gruel. As a result, The Ossuary Lens often loses my focus despite its seemingly manageable length. Conversely, the album’s highlights show how it’s done. Most strikingly, “Driftwood” has colonized my brain with a soulful mix of melodeath and metalcore that recalls Venom Prison. With highs this high, it’s a shame that The Ossuary Lens often slips into uniformity.

Allegaeon is a relatively new band, but they inspire nostalgia. I vividly recall pimply nights with the addictive Fragments of Form and Function. I still think that “Accelerated Evolution” and “Genocide for Praise” are two of the greatest album closers of this millennium. And the iconic 2014 music video for “1.618” sealed Allegaeon’s place in my heart forever. Measured against Allegaeon’s first three albums, The Ossuary Lens falls short, hampered by its dearth of standout moments. Still, it isn’t a stinker. It still bangs; it still shreds; it still progs. Warts and all, it earns its keep.

Rating: Good
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: allegaeon.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/Allegaeon
Releases Worldwide: April 4th, 2025

Iceberg

Allegaeon are something of a known quantity around here, having been nodded at by Steel, eviscerated by GardensTale, and patched up by Cherd. The Colorado crew helmed by guitarist Greg Burgess have amassed a legion of rabid followers (who are sure to raise a ruckus in the comment section) for their signature style of Gothenburg-meets-tech-death. I’ll admit to being a fan of 2016’s Proponent for Sentience, one of the first reviews I read on this site, but got lost amidst the dense material of Apoptosis and frankly didn’t even give Damnum a shot. Allegaeon’s latest LP, The Ossuary Lens, sees the return of original vocalist Ezra Haynes and a much-welcomed stripped-down runtime, two intriguing changes in my book. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been excited about an Allegaeon release, can The Ossuary Lens be the record to change that?

Allegaeon’s style of melo-tech-death needs little introduction here, but for those of you who haven’t been following the past decade’s worth of drama, I’ll provide the CliffsNotes. Sweeping, scalar guitar riffs courtesy of Burgess and Michael Stancel form the backbone of most tracks, and the dual guitars make for an indulgent offering of solos (“Driftwood,” “Wake Circling Above”). The drums here, while dripping with modern production sheen, are compelling and energetic without being overly technical, a sincere compliment for Jeff Saltzman. Allegaeon have never strayed from highlighting their bass players, and standout moments in “Chaos Theory” and “Carried by Delusion” show Brandon Michael has as much a command of melody as he does of relentless, galloping rhythms. Ezra Haynes, of Elements of the Infinite fame, comes roaring back to life on The Ossuary Lens, employing a gritty death roar alongside commendable clean vocals on “Driftwood” and “Wake Circling Above.” The performances on The Ossuary Lens are everything one would come to expect from a band nearly two decades into their career, and make for a wholly engaging listening experience.

Allegaeon albums tend to have similar issues holding them back, and the band have largely addressed them on The Ossuary Lens. First and foremost is the 45-minute runtime, a nearly 25% reduction in music from their last three records. The renewed focus on editing shines, with tracks that hit fast and get out of the way while still managing to be memorable (“The Swarm,” “Imperial”). This represents the first major improvement in The Ossuary Lens; Allegaeon have not only figured out that less is more, but they’ve also magnified the parts that work. Sing-along melodeath choruses lurk throughout the album (“Driftwood,” “Dies Irae”) but none so impactful as penultimate track “Wake Circling Above.” Clearly the best Insomnium track released this year, Allegaeon’s ode to all things Gothenburg is a monumental testament to what this band can do when they stop doing so much and let the music dictate the song’s course.

The hits don’t stop there. The Ossuary Lens takes a while to really get moving, with the first three tracks treading familiar territory. But then comes “Dies Irae,” a barnburner that incorporates the three-note musical motif for the Dies Irae text of the Requiem Mass, a nice music nerd Easter Egg that only enhances the ripping triplet-infused breakdown sitting in the song’s center. And Burgess’ requisite flamenco guitar, something sorely overused in Proponent for Sentience, is here condensed into the driving groove of “Dark Matter Dynamics,” a powerfully infectious rhythm ripped straight from a Rodrigo y Gabriela record, or the breath-before-the-plunge moments of the darkly harrowing “Carried by Delusion.” Whereas previous Allegaeon records were dense, academic affairs that required shoveling through noise and notes to discern, The Ossuary Lens presents a barebones masterclass on Allegaeon’s modus operandi.

This isn’t to say that The Ossuary Lens is infallible. Early tracks “Chaos Theory” and “Driftwood” are technically proficient, but fail to reach the emotional highs of the rest of their brethren. Final track “Scythe,” while holding some excellent verse grooves, feels underbaked after the astonishing “Wake Circling Above,” and its cropped ending leaves the album on more of a question mark than a statement. And there’s the lingering issue of the DR5 master and production, which, while not as obscene as earlier records, is still crushed and fatiguing. But overall, The Ossuary Lens represents a massively successful repositioning for the Coloradoans, making it one of my favorite spins of the year for its precision, refinement, and memorability. If Allegaeon continue on this trajectory, we may see their best work yet just over the horizon.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

#2025 #30 #35 #Allegaeon #AmericanMetal #Apr25 #Arsis #DeathMetal #FirstFragment #Insomnium #Melodeath #MelodicDeathMetal #MetalBlade #MetalBladeRecords #ProgressiveDeath #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ProgressiveTechnicalDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #Revocation #RodrigoYGabriela #Rush #TechnicalDeathMetal #TheOssuaryLens #VenomPrison #Yes