Abjection

Blackened death outfit Embra gets things off to a good start with their first LP, Abjection, a noisy, chaotic mess of blackened riffing underpinned by steady drums and singing that sounds like Swamp Thing got put on vocals. There's a slight bit of ominous atmosphere surrounding the rough-hewn slab the band flings at our ears, but overall this is an album that weds simple black metal riffing to death metal rhythms. Taking some influence from Incantation, the sound is subterranean and guitar-dominated, the deep croaked vocals of Kyle Anderson and guitarist Dylan Williams providing a bass counterpoint to the midrange array of guitars that grab the front of the mix. When the band flips into high gear, the sound stomps you into the ground like a stampede of elephants. It's not without its introspective moments -- the short interlude of Erode supplies a break in the noise for the listener to catch his breath -- but even the slow portions are a slow sandpapering of the ears. In Voidwielder, they have saved the best for last, a creeping buildup that explodes into a sea of blasting guitars a short way in. This album balances the death and black metal aspects of the sound nicely, a mix that only increases in power and range in the later tracks.