Review by Death8699 on July 20, 2019.

This album is atypical for me not because it's melodic death, but it's because it's a mix of melodic death and metalcore. That shouldn't be any reason not to like about this album, it's because it's just different to me. The music is a mixture of riff-laden rhythms which is cool because it's a really original sounding release. Them mixing melodic death with metalcore makes the album unique. The fact that this is a combination of the two genres of metal makes it not knowing what to expect in the musical category. I liked this from start to finish, though I think that they could've done a little better on the leads. Other than that criticism, the music makes up for it.

Hearing this first digitally made me like it because it dives through all different kinds of guitars, vocals and the production is of sound quality. There seems to be a lot of heart to this. The sounds of the guitars are unique and mostly distorted tone. But there are clean guitars on here, too. They seem to like to change up the tempos here. Mostly it's distorted guitar riffs and nothing that over exceedingly heavy. This band has a lot of offer the metal community. They're like I said, atypical but still doggone intriguing to listen to. I like the distorted guitar rhythms and they shift from that to clean, hence the metalcore vibe. I'm not a huge fan of metalcore, but some of it on here is all right.

These guys need to be heard by the masses of metal fans. Their music is quite interesting. A lot of down picked guitar along with tremolo picking overtures as they swing from tempo to tempo. It's quite interesting that they're able to do this. The vocals are pretty cool, not really a deep throat sound but hoarse with some clean tone in there. I would give the album a higher rating if the music would've stayed consistently intense. The whole album is odd. The melodies are quite swift, and the vocals go well along with the guitars. Definitely unique sounds altogether.

If you haven't heard this band, do yourself a favor and hear them. You'll probably come to the same conclusion as I, weird but unique.  If you're a guitar player, maybe you'd understand some of my jargon about the guitars. Check them out and if you like what you hear, support the band and order the CD. It's worth it. I know some tracks taper off sounding out of place, but overall this album is a "B" to me. I liked it enough and gave it a fair shake. Check them out, they're really strange but different and I mean that in a good way.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Death8699 on July 20, 2019.

This album is atypical for me not because it's melodic death, but it's because it's a mix of melodic death and metalcore. That shouldn't be any reason not to like about this album, it's because it's just different to me. The music is a mixture of riff-laden rhythms which is cool because it's a really original sounding release. Them mixing melodic death with metalcore makes the album unique. The fact that this is a combination of the two genres of metal makes it not knowing what to expect in the musical category. I liked this from start to finish, though I think that they could've done a little better on the leads. Other than that criticism, the music makes up for it.

Hearing this first digitally made me like it because it dives through all different kinds of guitars, vocals and the production is of sound quality. There seems to be a lot of heart to this. The sounds of the guitars are unique and mostly distorted tone. But there are clean guitars on here, too. They seem to like to change up the tempos here. Mostly it's distorted guitar riffs and nothing that over exceedingly heavy. This band has a lot of offer the metal community. They're like I said, atypical but still doggone intriguing to listen to. I like the distorted guitar rhythms and they shift from that to clean, hence the metalcore vibe. I'm not a huge fan of metalcore, but some of it on here is all right.

These guys need to be heard by the masses of metal fans. Their music is quite interesting. A lot of down picked guitar along with tremolo picking overtures as they swing from tempo to tempo. It's quite interesting that they're able to do this. The vocals are pretty cool, not really a deep throat sound but hoarse with some clean tone in there. I would give the album a higher rating if the music would've stayed consistently intense. The whole album is odd. The melodies are quite swift, and the vocals go well along with the guitars. Definitely unique sounds altogether.

If you haven't heard this band, do yourself a favor and hear them. You'll probably come to the same conclusion as I, weird but unique.  If you're a guitar player, maybe you'd understand some of my jargon about the guitars. Check them out and if you like what you hear, support the band and order the CD. It's worth it. I know some tracks taper off sounding out of place, but overall this album is a "B" to me. I liked it enough and gave it a fair shake. Check them out, they're really strange but different and I mean that in a good way.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Felix on September 23, 2020.

Ragehammer surfaced with their debut in 2016 (time flies…) and here they return with Into Certain Death. The dudes already proved their talent with The Hammer Doctrine and here they confirm it with ten new songs. Programmatic titles ('We Are the Hammer') still show up and the music itself is also aligned with their former works. Ragehammer’s compositions are among these tracks where the borders blur. More or less all types of extreme metal (minus grindcore) flow into the songs of the dudes. Thrash and black metal are the most relevant influences, but this is neither a typical thrash nor a generic black metal album. Only few parts of the material can be clearly classified. The atmospheric first tones of the intro of the opulent closer, for instance, have probably been found at the gates of Blashyrkh, but, as mentioned before, this exception only confirms the norm.

The songs have a lot of drive. Mortar, responsible for the drumming on this album, is constantly active and he loves fast beats. Sometimes his performance borders on blast beats and only rarely it happens that he can suppress his will to destroy. Unfortunately, the snare sounds pretty flat, but more generally speaking, I cannot say that the album becomes a victim of its own production. Maybe the voice is a bit too dominant, but all these details do not hurt the joy of listening. 'We Are the Hammer' creates a strong, straight and compact beginning and the coherent leads of 'Jesus Goat' also have an impact. Believe me, this song consists of 99% goat and 1% Jesus… and it is more or less conventionally designed. This approach leads to a solid degree of catchiness and works very well in 'Peace' which is equipped with an impulsive chorus that drags the listener into the abyss in a matter of seconds. Already this strange hippie with this equally strange Japanese wife knew that it is sometimes a good idea to give 'Peace' a chance – and it goes without saying that this song has absolutely no peaceful sequences. Its first line (“oh the joy of taking lives!”) says it all.

Ragehammer master the art of presenting guitar lines that appear absolutely harsh even though they house a more or less hidden melody. The Polish titled track (forgive me, I am too lazy to seek the necessary special characters) and 'Toxine Fear' mark good examples for the musical understanding of the four-piece. However, Pagan Records have released a homogeneous work and this is both blessing and curse. Ragehammer have found their style, but the songs would profit from five or ten percent more individuality. Once again, that’s no big deal, just a small footnote. The same applies for the useless background vocals at the end of 'Omega Red' which are responsible for the only really weak moment on this album. So what? Into Certain Death presents 46 minutes of music and 45 of them are simply smashing. Even the final songs, the vehement 'Dragon City' and the heroic Deströyer 666-influenced closer which gets more and more intensive the longer it lasts do not picture a band that runs out of breath. Thumbs up for these dudes – they really swing the hammers ragingly.

Rating: 8.1 out of 10