Review by Greg on March 5, 2025.

Heralded by the stupendous Mark Cooper artwork (not his first, for sure), When Time Becomes Loss arrives in a strange time for California act Hemotoxin. After three accomplished full-lengths, indeed, band leader Michael Chavez (also in Condition Critical and Ripped to Shreds) ended up composing and playing this one (almost) all by himself, with the help of some very special guests. Whatever the reason for it, this looks like an interesting listen regardless.

Now, I don't know their other music, but for a band labeled as thrash/death sure there's a lot of progressive/technical/however-you'd-define-Death influences. Chavez's voice is the main culprit for sure, echoing Schuldiner's inflection more than truly aping his growl in each and every aspect, but I was still wondering if that alone was enough to warrant a progressive tag, until my ear fell on one of the numerous guitar solos of the record. They're all exquisite, extensive, with a superb penchant for melody, often not even shredding in the usual sense, but feeling and sustaining each note in an almost prog rock fashion. It's kinda shocking to hear such amounts of melody in a death metal album. Truth be told, opener 'Morbid Reflection' is a bit of an exception, ruined with a noisy drift towards squeals and dive bombs that unfortunately clash with the overall vibe, but it's almost a venial sin. If anything, it means the album actually gets better as tracks go by.

At its core, Hemotoxin's formula is simultaneously simple and something that has rarely been attempted: take the off-kilter riffing of the pioneering prog/tech death metal band (the usual suspects – Death, for sure, but also early Cynic, Atheist, etc.), add more thrash tendencies, blast beats (and a hefty amount of those), courtesy of no less than Scott Fuller, and of course those aforementioned, uniquely prominent solos. Cynically (heh) speaking, one could say that there isn't a whole lot of variation between the seven tracks, but when each one has something interesting going on, to the point I have trouble choosing a favourite, I'm not one to fuss over it. Additionally, everything is delivered in a rather condensed playing time. Maybe too condensed, as the whole album doesn't even reach half an hour – but again, no complaints on my part, as long as this means they managed to keep a better focus (okay, this is starting to get out of hand).

And lo and behold, it does. There isn't a single dull moment to be found on When Time Becomes Loss even if you hunted high and low for it. The solos are most certainly the highest points in any track, but outside of those, the moments that stuck the most with me were also too many to mention: the awesome bass in the intro of 'Conscious Descent', the totally awesome riff at 0:56 of 'Abstract Commands' leading to the better part of the track, the all-around explosive 'Call From The Abyss'... I've rarely heard 29 minutes as impressive and jam-packed with delicious stuff. The last two tracks are Hemotoxin's testbed for longer episodes, and show that Chavez isn't limiting himself to a maximum of 4 minutes per song just due to weak songwriting skills. Whereas 'Reborn In Tragedy' feels just a tiny inch too meandering, before a gigantic and outrageously wonderful solo (seriously, those first notes have no right to be that awesome), the closer and title-track makes the definitive statement, rising as the album's most shining star. Three solos (including a sweet one by Condition Critical's Tony Barhoum that fits perfectly) and a beautiful ending round off the tracklist on the highest note, as well as the most melodic. A fantastic track.

When Time Becomes Loss is the kind of work that made me wonder what the hell I've been paying attention to all these years, instead of listening to Hemotoxin. It's an impressive death metal album, taking the best part of the old-school without any of the caveats of the modern, overcrowded OSDM scene, and still immensely enjoyable for the thrasher who's not afraid of leaning a bit towards more obscure, cavernous boundaries (even if the bright artwork does wonders to lure you in anyways). I can definitely interpret this as a more extreme and sped-up version of Chilean Ripper, or maybe prime Exmortus (i.e., the only truly impressive era of the band) going easier – but no less awesomely – on the fretboard. Honestly, if all the bands I've mentioned throughout this review weren't enough to convince you to check it out, do you even like metal? Clearly among the elite of 2024 releases.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10