Do you know GOREFEST? Excellent. Now forget about the album "Chapter 13," released in 1998 before their breakup, and you don't need to dwell too much on "La Muerte" from 2005 either. The band used to play very interesting and at times amusing music, clearly mocking the listener who couldn't figure out whether they were hearing death metal or a heavier Motorhead. All of that is in the past. I hope you've forgotten it all by now... and remembered the albums "False" and "Erase." The most famous death metal band from the land of tulips has released a 100% death metal record titled "Rise to Ruin." Whether to rejoice or be upset about this -- judge for yourselves.
Right from the first extremely aggressive track "Revolt," the band takes us back to the old days. Rough, hard, energetic, yet not overly brutal and very technical -- on one hand a wall of sound, but a wall that twists and turns in all directions. And so it goes for the entire album. Particularly noteworthy is the track "A Question of Terror," which atmospherically recalls DIMMU BORGIR and similar acts, and no less remarkable is the 9-minute "Babylon's Whores" -- a true death metal suite, complex and intricate.
The expanded version includes two bonus tracks -- "Surrealism" and "Dehumanization" -- which do slightly recall the previous album, primarily because the vocals are more distinct, with discernible notes at times. These are interesting compositions, but they are precisely bonuses that don't disrupt the overall direction of "Rise to Ruin" in the slightest.
This disc is recommended to all fans of Dutch death metal and beyond, because no matter what kind of music appeared on GOREFEST albums, absolute originality was always their calling card.