Gorephilia - Ascend to Chaos

“Ascend to Chaos” comes with a release date for 2011, but the music reeks heavily of the primordial days of European death-metal, in particular bands like Demilich, Adramelech and Abhorrence. It also stands perfectly alongside the recent works of fellow countrymen Claws and Hooded Menace, perhaps Gorephilia puts a bit more focus on rabid and vicious tempos than slow and dragging ones.

Revelling in bowel-trembling low end riffs, deep and undecipherable growls and no-frills rhythms, the album pays a serious homage to old-school death-metal. “Reaching the Divine End” sounds maturely malevolent, recalling the more mid-paced and visceral side of early Morbid Angel, while the final song “Tower of Bones” sees a glimpse of Swedish melody creeping in at the start of the song just before bursting into a frenetic and muddy death-metal style.

However, while attempting to recreate the aura and malevolence of their musical heroes, the Finnish quintet have forgotten to imbue the songs with more personality and a more stimulating song writing, leading this EP to sound a bit repetitive following the third track.

Despite these flaws, this solid and nasty work is good enough to put Gorephilia on the map of old-school death-metal. (5.8/10)

Alex Grimm

Band info: www.gorephilia.com

Label info: www.darkdescent.net

For fans of: Demilich, Adramelech, Abhorrence, Claws, Hooded Menace