Throneaeon
Neither Of Gods
Rebaelliun
Annihilation
Hammerheart
It’s rather disconcerting when you can pretty much use the same stock review for two different records, let alone ones released by the same label at nearly the same time. In this case, the records in question are Throneaeon’s Neither Of Gods and Rebaelliun’s Annihilation, both bands praying at/preying on Morbid Angel’s altars of madness, the label being the well-respected Hammerheart, who seemingly reissue new releases six months later in digipak format with bonus tracks. Anyway, Neither Of Gods is Throneaeon’s debut album, Annihilation Rebaelliun’s second one, the former scourging trickier transitions and more often, the latter locking onto lunging blasts of repetition much like fellow Brazilians Krisiun, who, for as killer as their most recent Ageless Venomous is, are still mired in Angelic worship. Similarly, Throneaeon’s guitar solos are less frequent but more protracted and eerily evocative, Rebaelliun’s cropping up everywhere and universally mind-blown, but hey • at least both bands thought enough to bring something to the table other than incessant blastbeats and whirlwinding riffs like their (slightly) lesser contemporaries are wont to do. All told, though, both Neither Of Gods and Annihilation are as expertly crafted and deadly as derivation gets in the death metal world, but if I had to play favorites, Rebaelliun would get the edge, mainly because when they lock onto said hypnotic repetition, the sum effect is close to a muddy, smoke-billowing train barreling down the tracks with no shortage of coal to spare (in that respect, not unlike Ageless Venomous, I guess). Nonetheless, something’s amiss here, as Hammerheart already released Exmortem’s doorknob-drab Berzerker Legions earlier this year, making the Morbid Angel Quotient at least a conservative “three” to date. Gotta love the metal underground, eh?
Hammerheart Records, PO Box 42323, Pittsburgh, PA 15203; http://www.hammerheartamerica.com, http://www.throneaeon.com, http://www.rebaelliun.com
