Apparition : "Disgraced Emanations From A Tranquil State"

The sophomore effort from the Los Angeles Death Metal is going to be a trial by fire for this band, as they have to establish themselves as more than just deviants who are out to torture your eardrums under the guise of a death metal band. On the opening track, they sound like they are making more of an effort to write memorable riffs, well at least riffs more memorable than those on the first album. They are also making more of an effort to have the doomier sections try to create a more compelling mood. In the second song they show their weaknesses are not much different than other death metal bands when they let their aggression get the best of them and just pour on the speed. However, they are prudent enough to use more restraint than most and rein things back for a dense sludge-caked chug. 

They are dark but do not try to be evil, aside from the normal metal imagery for this sort of thing. They display a knack on this album for keeping the riffs flowing. The blast beats are sparse and staggered on the second song. The more brutal onslaughts do not last long enough to dull your ears before they ebb into something more melodic or grooving. At times they are even more experimental in how they bring this together. The drummer is clearly the most talented member of this band, though they are skilled at dialing in a mean as fuck guitar tone. Production wise they certainly nailed the sound they were trying to capture. This album is cold and oppressive yet organic in the sounds, even with the wretched overdrive coating things. "Paradoxysm" does not have a great deal of atmosphere, but the little it does have is made to work well. Not the album's strongest song, but it's not that bad either. The vocals typically stay in the low guttural place, venturing up for a scream every now and then. 

"Eexcruiating Regue in Roeoccuring Torment" is the tug of war the drummer wages inside of himself regarding what side of the death-doom equation he wants to sit in. More often than not he falls on the death metal side. But this wrestling match makes things more interesting than if you were just being hit with blast beats. With this song, it makes it less focused and harder to establish a baseline from which dynamics might flourish. I know some fans of Death Metal are really just after the most brutal, band, and while they might not captured the title of most brutal I think they are heavy enough for those who lean toward the more extreme side of the genre to still be able to enjoy them.

There is one track that is just ambient noise, it is pretty much just the intro for the last song, that finds itself locked into a more traditional death metal mode, before pouring on the speed.  There are not many head-banging grooves, sometimes things throb in a way you can nod your head to. The more melodic section in it is cool, but I wish they had worked more of this sort of thing into this album, to make it stand apart from their peers. Most of it is guitar noodling, but it helps break things up. I will give this album an 8, it's dark and intense in a way that feels natural and not like they are pretending to be something they are not. Profound Lore is releasing this one. 

pst140