EMBRACE YOUR PUNISHMENT is a four-piece band from France that exists since 2009. The line-up consists of Clement Rue on drums, Geoffroy Mansard on guitars, Vivien Rue behind the mike and Clement Dellis who is responsible for the bass parts. EMBRACE YOUR PUNISHMENT released their debut "Honor Before Glory" in 2014 followed by "Nameless King" in 2019. Now it is time for their third full-length offering named "Made of Stone" released by Lacerated Enemy Records from the Czech Republic.

You know, when you see that guests in this album are people like Jason Netherton from the mighty MISERY INDEX , Julien Truchan from the French Death/Grind heroes BENIGHTED and the one and only Kirk Windstein from CROWBAR then you realize that you are going to listen to something special. The album starts with "Nemesis" - a powerful, heavy as a ton of bricks, track that offers blastbeats mixed with heavy beatdown parts. This is the recipe for the music in the whole album actually. Some pleasant exceptions are "Unconquered" which is the track with Jason Netherton - it is more into the Death/Grind vibe with some crushing parts typical for Jason's band MISERY INDEX. This one is probably my favourite brutal piece from "Made of Stone" As a vocalist Vivien Rue demonstrates a good voice range from typical Hardcore raw vocals to deep growls. The other three guys are also very good musicians and know how to extract crushing sounds from their instruments. "Made of Stone - Part One" is another outstanding track - it starts with a rumbling bass and then grows into a smashing sonic monster where you can hear the duel between Vivien Rue and the unique doomy voice of CROWBAR's Kirk Windstein. This song has it all - grinding parts, fast-paced rhythm and deadly beatdown passages. On the contrary, the second part of "Made of Stone" that follows is a mellow acoustic guitar-driven track which gives you time to relax a little from all the sonic violence before the return of the heavy music with "Worthless Hound" which sound like a HATEBREED song with much Death metal in it. "Exterminate the Threat" with BENIGHTED's Julien Truchan is a Death/Grind assault with the occasional slow moshing parts and the following "Fury of the Fates" is capable of causing vast circle pits live. The end of this impressive album comes with "The Ones Above Us" which reminds me of the Netherland's hardcore heroes BORN FROM PAIN with its powerful energy.

I must admit that I was never into Deathcore which is what EMBRACE YOUR PUNISHMENT are doing but "Made of Stone" is an album that cannot leave you indifferent. The music production is on a great level, so it the cover artwork representing the Greek hero Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. This is a very strong record that should be heard by all fans of the genre!