Back in the early years of the 90s, I remember many talks with older Metalheads (as myself) about the Second Wave of Death Metal, and to them was hard to deal with those younger acts. It’s simple to explain: as older you are, the harder becomes to accept new ways of making a Metal genre. I speak of myself: I loved (and still love) the early releases of the genre, because they were still filled with 80s influences, even if one thing of releases as “Altars of Madness”, “The Grand Leveller”, “Testimony of the Ancients”, “Warmaster”, “Slowly We Rot” and some others, but I had difficulties to deal with some albums of the genre after 1993 (of course I got used to them and like them today). And maybe older Metalheads fans of Death Metal can have hard times dealing with the work of the Polish quintet DEIVOS, as heard on “Apophenia”.

On the studio, the band worked with Tomasz Zalewski (who did the mixing and mastering) and Krzysztof Godycki (who did the sound engineering of the drums), using a model of sonority that is a mix between a defined sound (to allow the fans to understand what’s being played) and a brutal outfit with the instrumental tunes that are usual for the genre. And the artwork of Mariusz Lewandowski (a Polish graphic artist who passed away on 2022 and made the album cover) and Michał Kaczkowski (who worked on the layout and design) depicts what the band musically plays. Brutal, sick and insane, the musical work of the quintet is a form of Technical Death Metal that used the Polish Death Metal ways as basis, and with a technical appeal that’s not usual (because they prefer to use instrumental technique as a tool, not as a reason for their songs). It means that their songs are full of energy and as sick and brutal as they show a coherent form of working, and the technical aspect isn’t as overloaded as many bands use (what means that even fans of other Death Metal subgenres will deal easily with the band’s musical work)

“Feretory”, “My Sacrifice”, “Sermon of Hypocrisy”, “De Materia Turpi”, “Revelations”, “The Great Day of His Wrath”, “Apophenia”, “Maelstrom of Decay” and “Persecutor” are perfect samples of how playing aggressive and catching with a technical appeal, and there are many rhythmic shifts (what depicts a great work on bass guitar and drums), insane guitar riffs and solos, and low guttural growls of the vocals. In reality, “Apophenia” sounds coherent and solid, and works as a unity, so it’s not needed to say that this or that song is a highlight. If you’re into Death Metal, for sure DEIVOS’ music is for you, and “Apophenia” will surely have a space on your collection.