Info
- Band(s): Maze Of Sothoth
- Label(s): Everlasting Spew Records
- Release Format(s): Cassette, CD
- Release Year: 2023
- Review Date: April 3, 2023
- Author(s): FelixS
With ‘Extirpated Light’, this Italian foursome is on its second album. After a good demo and a successful debut album, expectations are high; the Technical Death Metal on the previous releases have certainly tasted for more.
And, we might as well get right to the point: ‘Extirpated Light’ is a more than worthy successor to ‘Soul Demise’ (2017, Everlasting Spew Records). In fact, it is even a step up. Not only in terms of song writing, but also in terms of sound and production. ‘Soul Demise’ already sounded like a hammer blow, but on this new album, it’s a complete all-consuming sledgehammer. The sound has now taken on a slightly darker and more menacing tone so that comparisons with Morbid Angel are even more fitting than before. But still a comparison with Vital Remains, Vomitory, Hate Eternal, Krisiun, Malveolent Creation and Vader, emphasising the complex song structures, is most fitting. The wild riffs, ferocious rhythm changes and aggressive vocals make the album a good contemporary Death Metal record that both has an eye for the genre’s classics and brings with it a good and all-destroying sound.
But mind you, a modern sound does not mean we are dealing with break-downs or what other elements from those Slam or Deathcore territories. A lot of good Technical Death Metal in the past often sounded a bit thin and fragile, with the guitars often taking the brunt of it production-wise. For instance, listen with your 2023 ears to the older work of Dying Fetus or Necrophagist, or put your ears to those mid-era Suffocation records. Leaving aside the zeitgeist (and nostalgia) that are, of course, inextricably attached to those classic albums, we can unquestionably conclude that Maze Of Sothoth does the Technical Death Metal genre of today credit with the release of this excellent album.
Anyone who enjoyed the band’s previous record (or even demo, for the early adopters) will not be disappointed by the release of this sophomore album. It offers a rewarding listen if you are in for some high-level Technical Death Metal with enough respect for the classic era of the Death Metal genre.
