Spinebreaker - "Cavern Of Inoculated Cognition"

 These guys might have come out of the San Francisco hard core scene, but this is a straight up death metal band. Nothing is going to dress it up and change that fact. Does it have some half time, grooving break down like riffs, Sure but that is just how death metal bands should write songs with riffs that grab you and pull you in to compensate for the vocals not doing that. These growls are just another layer that rides the guitars. What I like about these guys is they are generally not obsessed with speed. Things do pick up a bit on the second song "Infinite Crest" , but not to the the extent that they bowl you over with blasting so you are left wondering if they can write a song or not.  They under stand how important grooves are and do not leave you without them for long. 

Is there some Morbid Angel influence at times? Yes, in the nuance of the guitars for sure. Largely midtempo with double bass helping to move the varied array of chugs and gallops along. "Bone Riddling Necrosis" gets the point across, despite the lyrics being lost most of the time in the growl. Some of this is how they sit back in reverb in the other wise massive mix, that gives all the grit and grim to the guitars you want without making the songs sound like shit. The only hard core thing about the album is that they keep the song lengths under six minutes , with the last song being an exception. There is a little bit of a Slayer feel to "Spectral Forge", but the density of the chug holds more weight. The midway point of this song is the only time I feel they really cop out and use speed, but they are quirk to retract and have things coil back together. Some of these riffs are really hard not to head bang to. 

"Inoculated" is an interlude that should be a part of another, perhaps the intro to "Crimson Mask". The vocals go into a higher rasp for this one. It is half way into this one that they find their groove. The end of the song is underwhelming as it builds and rather than climaxing in a bigger and better fashion, is just over. It would not be as noticeable if this was not the last song. Every thing is supposed to be bigger and more exaggerated in metal, especially endings. These kids buck the traditions, and perhaps it did not play to their favor on this song. Overall though their sense of restrain when dealing in a world of extremes pays off , so I will give this album a 9. If you are a fan of old school grooving death metal then this album needs a listen .