Review by Death8699 on October 29, 2018.

HEAVY! This is probably the most outstandingly produced Cardiac Arrest album I've heard and I've heard all of them. Just simple death rot metal, not just "death metal". These Midwestern monsters of the underground continue their legacy with their new release off of Razorback Records respectively. What to expect to give you what I've already enunciated in my brief intro is thick guitar riffs still in B-flat tuning (for all you metal guitarists) with slow, moderate and fast riffs delving deep in original songwriting fashion. Extreme old death metal influence among the ranks of classic bands such as Autopsy, Obituary but CA is in a league of their own!

Vocals feature actually 3 different blends that suffice to say here are uncanny, deep, amongst some screaming, but mostly deep growl. They fit the music quite well and it's good that they feature this variety because it keeps the albums' wit and unvaryingly thickness vibe that's pretty much all CA albums are encapsulated with. The first track "Prelude To Madness" segues the album into a quite astonishing mass of riff writing that I've to touch more upon musically speaking. The prelude may seem monotonous, but I think it was on purpose because this segue gives you a sense that these guys will never give up their roots and continue to stay amongst the darkened pit of destruction of metal underground they've always been accustomed to.

To touch on their musical progression, it seems that the production quality made it easier to discern what is actually going on with these guitars. You can hear  pretty much everything, the bass too if you're listening very closely and their style hasn't changed, but their originality in musical composition seems to be what is at the root of this album. They've always been strong on their songwriting capabilities, but this one I think is the heaviest and most catchy writing style. They seem to put together a fresh new chunk slabs of riffs together with a maximum amount of distortion and bar chord/tremolo picking onslaught of axes that totally annihilate!

Frontman Adam Scott still shredding on lead guitar properly placing his varying arpeggios, sweeps and tremolo picking behind Tom Knizner's rhythm efforts that both Adam and Tom successfully correlated these collective pursuits here. The death rot/death metal community should embrace this album because of it's heaviness, uncanny blast beating, tempo changes and darkened aura of mood. This of course is alongside a band that just simply dominates for the reason that their devotion to the underground scene is just never going to cease (this I predict is until they retire). People that refuse to compromise like these guys should be the ones that deserve praise not like many other metal bands that retreat from their roots just to sell records. CA should sell a ton for the sake of refusing to abandon their unrelenting desire to stay HEAVY. 

If you want to hear what death rot truly is And Death Shall Set You Free is equipped with all incorporated style of precision recording quality, drum work with blast beating intensity along with precise double bass/time signature changing. Guitars that are just so damn heavy they'll destroy your speakers, vocal variety domination and screeching leads to the point of eardrum explosion. This band continues to dominate the death rot/death metal music core of Chicago's underground music scene. You won't hear anything except sheer dominance of a performance and hope that they'll continue this onslaught throughout their days. So grab this CD metalheads to embrace the horror/destruction they've obliged listeners to hear with outstanding songwriting capabilities proving that metal is definitely alive, well, and undying.......

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Review by Elijah on February 5, 2020.

This album may as well be just another slamming brutal death metal album, but it's sure as hell overlooked. The more you listen the more and more you'll grow to love this. This album is truly a masterpiece and it may take a while for some to realize that.

You're either reading this review because you like this band and you're just checking out the reviews, or you hate slam death metal and you clicked on this because you're wondering why the hell I'm giving it such a high score. If you hate slam brutal death, that most likely means you haven't heard enough, or just haven't found the right band yet, or you just straight up hate it. I understand why people hate this album even if they're a slam/bdm fan or not, I get it. The vocals are constant with no structure, the drums sound weird, the guitars are eh, the songs are lame, whatever. Yes, I fully understand that and agree that it isn't exactly "perfect"; but the reasons why people dislike this album is the same reason why I absolutely love it. I'm one of those slam/bdm fans that like their shit nasty, guttural, and heavy. And well... this album displays and embodies that perfectly.

I love how "first effort" and "un-perfect" and raw this album is, I love it a lot. I love how everything sounds. When I started getting more into this band and listened to this album I didn't really get why it got so much crap, I thought it was pretty solid and great for the genre it is. But after my first few other listens I started to understand why it's so disliked. That was a few weeks ago but this past weekend I've been jamming this band a lot. I listened to this album about 5 times in just 3 days, it got stuck in my head and I just couldn't seem to get enough. In just three fast days this has become one of my favorites in slam brutal death metal, and no; I don't think I'll ever stop feeling the way I do about it right now.

I know it’s ironic how I'm talking about this album isn't exactly perfect but I'm also saying it is at the same time. People who know this album definitely understand what I'm talking about. Anyways, I really do love how everything on this album is. The drums (I think) are triggered, the bass drum doesn't sound pure at all, which is a slight bother but at the same time it isn't at all, I don't know exactly how to explain this. The kick drum has a sticky note type sound; for example, imagine you have a sticky note and you're ripping the sticky area back and forth off a surface, that's how the kick drum sounds. The snare has a cool sound too, sounds a slight of electronic but it's also solid and pure? I don't know, but what I do know is that I enjoy the drums here. The drums just fit really good on this album. It'll take time for sure to get used to how it sounds, but eventually you'll love it. Some bands have these aspects on their albums but sounds like absolute shit, AP does it right.

The guitars are great. Deep, heavy, slamming, perfect. Nothing much to explain for the guitars; they're just perfect and ideal, simple as that. Flawless guitar sound for some good classic slamming death. The vocals are probably my favorite aspect of this album. Vladmir's vocals are nasty, guttural as can be, juicy, gurgling, disgusting. Absolutely perfect! This is what I love and strive to look for in my slamming brutal death metal. I like my music heavy and sick, and the vocals on here strives for just that! I couldn't be more pleased! God tier vocals. Vocal structure doesn't really matter to me on albums like this, as long as they're raw and brutal.

All the songs on this album are great. One after another all very very good. (Aside from the vocals, lol), the songs have good structure and they breathe pretty fluently. The guitars play in their own slamming pattern while the drums follow along, similar to a dance beat or a rap beat. Nothing more satisfying than symmetric instruments on a slamming death album, so good. This album has 0 bad songs, and the interlude in between is perfect, adds more greatness to the album. My favorite song off the album and favorite AP song in general is probably 'Intracranial Parasite', that song opens up with a great snare flam followed by a ton of groovy and satisfying ear-gasm slams. As well as every song being good, this album has a groovy feel too, groovy as hell slams, so damn good. As I've listened more and more to this, the more and more I couldn't get enough. I love this record. It's incredibly catchy and super super fun.

As I said in the beginning, this album is severely overlooked and over hated. I do get why it's hated, but that's why it's so good. It's disgustingly perfect in all aspects. Most people like The Anomalies of Artificial Origin better, but in all honesty I prefer this any day. Don’t get me wrong, The Anomalies of Artificial Origin is amazing and a great album, but I like my slamming death heavy and disgusting. And this album is just that. Along with Cerebral Incubation's debut "Asphyxiating on Excrement", this and that album are some of the sickest and greatest albums in the genre.

In The End of Human Existence is an amazing and ideal slamming brutal death metal album, and only some people are able to realize that. It isn’t bad at all, let it grow on you and if you really don’t like it, then oh well. All I know is that this is for sure a new favorite of mine and forever a banger. Super fun album that'll get you moving with energy and good vibes. Pure greatness.

All the songs are good, but these are the best/standout tracks:

Best Songs: 'Intracranial Parasite', 'Entrails Full of Vermin', 'Throat Fisting Abortion', 'Victims Stuffed with Nails'.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10