Review by Carl on December 2, 2023.

Brutal death metal has a fair few of different faces to it. The slamming kind is the most popular, I think, with the technical kind being a pretty regular occurance too. There's is however a branch of the brutal death tree that I unfortunately don't see that much, and that is the style that was pretty popular in the late 90's and early to mid 00's. I'm of course talking about the high speed brutal death the way acts such as Rebaelliun, Centurian, Azarath and Brazil's Abhorrence played it.

So it is with joy and content that I have taken notice of Sculpting Atrocity, who deal in a style that reminds me more than once of those bands. It starts with the most striking aspect of that sort of death metal, the remorseless velocity, where blast beats and rattling double kicks propel forward the compositions, combined with solid Morbid Angel (with a wink to Nocturnus) inspired riff structures. It's a technical proficient style of guitar work, but it does not cross that border where it becomes unlistenable, like a sort of musical algebra. Sculpting Atrocity keep proceedings on point while delivering dose after dose of riff-driven, blast beat fueled brutal death metal, reminding me of the early stuff by bands such as Nile, Hate Eternal and Rebaelliun. The band does allow some variation to creep into their energetic blend of fast and relentless death metal, mostly in the form of dissonant guitar riffs, like in the title track, and the midtempo stomping parts that start off this album, leading the listener into the vortex of death that is "Omnipresence". Variation is a common factor during the runtime, with the band allowing slower, more punishing sections to creep into the mix, creating a good contrast with the fast paced parts that make up a good deal of the band's sound. In the guitar playing and leads there is the Morbid Angel influence that is noticeable throughout the whole of the album. That the band is not shy of peeking at Morbid Angel's homework becomes really clear in the instrumental piece "Resurrection". This is a soundscape in the proud tradition of "Nar Mattaru" and "Melting", where tribal drumming is overlaid with haunting guitar chords, creating a moment to take in some breath before launching back into proceedings. It's a decent intermezzo, yet nowhere near the level of what Morbid Angel did.

Sound-wise, it all sounds good and certainly above par, with all instruments having their place into the mix, yet at the same time I have the feeling there's something missing. As if there's something holding this from really blowing up. It all sounds heavy and energetic, yet the production also comes across as a tad flat and lifeless. Is it because the guitars could've used some more body? Or is it that the whole is missing a bit of bottom end? Maybe it's the somewhat compressed overall sound? I don't know, but I get the feeling there's something missing from this album, something that would've given it that final push over the wall. Oh, well ...

In the end, this is a more than decent offering of death metal that is well composed and adequately executed, even if not all of the songs are that memorable, with a track like "Aeturnus" even being a bit boring, and while the production does a way decent job, there is still something missing from it. Now, perhaps I may be giving the impression that this is a mediocre album, but that is for sure not the case. I enjoy this a lot, actually. It has some great music on offer, and while it does not bring anything surprising to the annual Morbid Angel Barbecue and Buffet, it goes down smooth enough.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10