Review by Felix on February 6, 2024.

Even the hottest summer of all times (2022) was not enough to stop the activities of Italy’s Bunker 66. The split with Germany’s Lucifuge was already their third collaboration within one year. Well, an Italian-German cooperation has not always been to the benefit of mankind, to say the least. But this time we don’t need to fear many dying victims, even though the company’s name of the label mates indicates this. More problematic is the somehow needless Motörhead cover of Bunker 66, but their two remaining songs make up for this. Rasping guitars, sometimes fast as an arrow, motivate the drummer to a precise and powerful performance, while the man at the microphone spits out his lyrics with a rather throaty voice. The Italians find the right mix of primitive sounds and diversity in their constantly forward rolling tracks, although they avoid pretty melodic excursions this time. Thumbs up for the more or less perfectly produced “Mellhammer” and “Sulphurous Lust”. The second track in particular makes it clear that the Italians' little vulgarities are always diabolical fun for the listener.

Lucifuge hail from the underground with three new songs. Although their catalogue covers already four full-lengths, they did not get an overdose of attention so far. Honestly, I doubt that the new material will change this. The band misses the mark on the almost epic “In Blood and Dust”. A few sections are okay, but coherence is missing. The song does not come to the point. Additionally, some slow-moving parts are just too ordinary and lack excitement. Fortunately, “The Great Unseen” is much more intensive and should not become “The Great Unheard”. Here Lucifuge attack without mercy and demonstrate their full potential. The slicing riffs and the tight overall appearance fascinate me, but my enthusiasm vanishes into thin air as soon as the final track starts. Is this the anti-social son of Priest’s “United”? I guess it's supposed to be a hymn, but easy-listening black thrash sounds toothless and tiring. Is it allowed to fall asleep? Putting insult to injury, the production also fails to convince. The snare lacks assertiveness, the guitars do not sound very heavy. So with a little portion of good will, it’s 80% for Bunker 66 and 60% for Lucifuge. Could have been better.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Alex on April 11, 2021.

Universally Estranged has released the strangest death metal album I've heard in a while. The album title alone is enough to make you scratch your nod. Reared Up In Spectral Predation; an euphemism for a curse term combined with an intellectual phrase. A scientific underbelly of darkness and cosmo-sexual mechanisms operating at perplexed and unequivocal angles; Reared Up In Spectral Predation is a most gratifying and scornful advent into the farthest realms of the galaxy and your guts.

What struck me after 3 repeated listening sessions is the seamless way Universally Estranged was able to walk a thin line between creating an absurdly technical record and carving out something that the listener can follow even with so many syncopated rhythm sections. Perhaps it could also be the band's greatest feat accomplished with this undertaking, not making the listener uncomfortable with effective technical artistry while still being able to place a sheet of structural simplicity over the songs to mask the complex instrumental engineering.

You'd be made aware of the thrashing layers atop the serpentine sonics that'd mimic Vector on 'Internecine Psychic Bloodletting' or even the frenetic 'Despoiling The Souls Of Flesh Across The Galaxy' that boasts a rather strong ambiance all working together to create a sense of movement, connection, and continuity. Then there's a song like 'The Visitor' that'd mimic mid-era Death in some sections while still tearing a page out of Blood Incantation's and Timeghouls's book before making landfall on yet another ambient techno-cosmic piece.

A lot is going on the album and I think it won't be long before you pick up on it. Musically you're tangled and left paralyzed due to the multiplicity of interwoven transitions and technical flare. However, it must be noted that Reared Up In Spectral Predation contains a runtime of slightly over 30 minutes but feels like a much longer album (but in a very good way). Like a novel or some sort of documentary, the record appears to have its intro, thesis, and conclusion adhere gracefully. It has to be the unpredictability of the musicianship that has caused this to happen along with loads of ambiance featured on a song such as 'Teeming With That Of Unknown Origin' that again manages to cast a shade of grey over the listener's ear causing the technical ambition to not override the atmosphere evoked.

There's also something about that guitar tone that I just love; some parts bring to mind Crackdust's "Dented Reality" being one of my favorite death metal albums. Forgive the name dropping but its far too many influences or similarities heard on the record to not at least list a few.

Reared Up In Spectral Predation is an exceptional album that merges eerie cosmic atmospherics with serpentine guitar and drum parallels while molding a consonant yet corrupt soup of cosmic carnality. A must-have for the lower regions of death metal; you'll be 'Blistered Under The Blue Illusion'.

Rating: 9.4 out of 10