The Scandinavian countries are known for some of the best extreme metal bands, and Norway’s Reptilian are not the exception. They play a more modern style of death metal, not going into the realms of deathcore, but more in the style of a mix of Cannibal Corpse style of drums with more modern styles of guitar tone and vocals. The guitar tones vary from song to song, but in all songs they do retain the same basic principle of death metal guitar work, and that is high gain, high distortion with some high-ish bass on the guitars, and on some occasions the guitars sound more like a slamming death metal guitars rather than classical death metal tones. The vocals also stand out, since they are not the standard for death metal, and can be a problem on the first hearing of the album, but then again, if you get into the material, you’ll realize that the more screaming style of vocals does actually go with the general sense of the band. The drums are lacking in the mix sometimes and the level of them can also get overwhelmed by the guitars and vocals. The bass can’t really be heard as a standalone instrument, but if it wasn’t there you would notice it. My only real concerns are the levels of the drums and the vocals, the vocals especially. More and more extreme metal bands have this kind of habit to make the vocals about 50% of the mix, and sometimes that does not work. Besides that, I do not have other concerns and criticism on the album, it is a great death metal album, and while it does not bring a lot of new ideas in the genre, it does not affect it quality. I give this album an 8/10.
