Review by Adam M on October 6, 2015.

Gorod performs a thrashy style of death metal. The song structures have a degree of dissonance to them. This allows for a unique breath of fresh air to the death metal genre. Gorod has a lot of quickness in their riffs which could be reminiscent of an album like Rust in Peace by Megadeth. This alone can be seen from the track Celestial Nature which features the same rapid fire speed riffing that said album contains.

Thankfully the song-writing present on the album is fairly tight and makes everything gel into the right place. One might think this technical metal approach has an over-indulgence attached to it, but right after a couple of tracks one gets comfortable with the band’s approach. And it is one that fits nicely into the progressive death metal genre despite the thrash references. The music here is abrasive, but it seems the speed win out over this aspect. However, since the song-writing is good, things never get out of control. Instead, we’re left with a furious death metal release. Instrumentally, the guitar work rivals the best that the genre has to offer. However, I don’t think the album has enough of a distinguishing characteristic to quite make it a classic. This album has such a high quality that it’s easy to overlook the lack of an innovative stance. The riffing and song structures are so interesting that even though the band doesn’t do anything new, they always remain compelling. Production is very good, but could be improved upon. The riffs could use a little more punch to them, considering how much impact is made by how blistering they are.

Still, this adds another tantalizing death metal offering to this year’s lineup. Those looking for fast, thrashy death metal with a technical edge should look no further than A Maze of Recycled Creeds.

Rating: 8 out of 10