ANTROPOMORPHIA “Devoid of Light” Album Review!

ANTROPOMORPHIA 

“Devoid of Light”

These days, how do you make death metal stand out amongst the thousands of other bands out there doing the same thing? You can experiment. And try to create something new and different, which usually fails as it’s no longer really that genre anymore, or you can just blast away with good old fashioned death metal without any apologies.

And that’s just what Netherlandic band AntropomorphiA have done with sixth full-length “Devoid of Light”. Sweltering, buzzing guitars start the whole thing off until pulsing drums and gargling screams arise out of the depths. ‘The Withering Stench of Hope’ doesn’t create anything new, and thank the lord of the deep for that. It’s an immediate sign of what the album contains. Second track ‘Devoid of Light’ is a mid-paced, steady swarm of riffs until the drums kick in full force and the guitars turn into a sludge of muck-encrusted walls of sound that exhibit a band full of energy and the concept of brutal heaviness.

Next track ‘Funeral Throne’ is a bludgeoning mass of swirling guitars and skull-breaking drums. The vocals by the man listed only as F are man-devouring growls of blood-curdling proportions. ’In Writhing Rapture’ encapsulates the power of a not so upbeat track that still enraptures with full blown angst. ‘Cancerous Bane’ abruptly brings back the rapid, rabid and radically fast pace that dominates this album. It’s a pleasure to know the band still kicks it since their first demo in 1992.

Sixth track ‘Unending Hunt’ is a barreling train demolishing everything in its path. ‘Ash Drapes the Earth’ is a mix of off-kilter drumming and mesmerizing, twisting guitars giving the album a slightly different turn down the left-hand path while still maintaining its consistency and intensity.’In the Shade of the Devil’s Horns’, with its damning scream at its beginning and it’s atmospheric guitars almost throw a little black metal into the mix until the onrushing stampede of death metal riffs break through and continue the madness. Final track ‘Triumphant Death’ ends it all in an epic salute to what the genre is all about.

“Devoid of Light” won’t start any new trends, but it sure as fuck satisfies in every way imaginable. There are no weak tracks. No missteps. No weakness. Only the solid death metal AntropomorphiA has excelled at for over thirty years. 

- David Simonton