Germany's ARROGANZ have been taking the German underground by storm over the six years that the band has been in existence. With one demo and two full lengths already under their belt, they are now set to release their new album "Tod und Teufel", the first album to feature new guitarist P. So, where does this sit on the Death Metal spectrum, and more importantly, is it good?

To put it lightly, yes. It's a lot different from the vast majority of Death Metal that is being put at this time. The intro track "i.d.t.n" is basically drone-like guitars with spoken word over the top, before the song "One Death" begins. This song is very good, continuing with the heavy use of droning guitars, It essentially sounds like something VALLENFYRE would put out, only with a more polished production. It's not the most memorable track on this album, but it is definitely miles apart from a lot of contemporary Death Metal. It ends on some grating feedback, which leads us into the next song, "Arise From the Failure Perished as King". This is a very fast and aggressive piece of Death Metal. The album's title track begins with a prominent Bass section , which, although it doesn't necessarily the most technical Bass part, but it adds to the atmosphere of the track. It's quite fast, and has a really good guitar solo, but it's not even close to the best track on this album. "Demon's Heart" is, however. The drums has something that not a lot of Death Metal often lacks; groove. And the guitars have the same droning quality of some of the other tracks on this record. The end of the song is built around another prominent Bass riff that works very well to add the overall atmosphere. "Intoxicate", one of the slowest tracks on the record, is also one of the most powerful, kicking up a gear and getting fastest just over half way through. "All Light Is A  Lie", a seven minute long epic, takes us through the many facets of Death Metal, from the melodic through to the groovy guitars. It also features some of the most embittered, passionate and ferocious vocals I've heard in recent Death Metal. It's really quite hard to do, and K manages to capture it perfectly. "Black Aura" has a very thick guitar tone, and is very close to a Slam track, although these elements are mixed in with the Death Metal which dilutes it down. The drums also work very well with this track. The penultimate song, "Guilty", has a progressive edge, bu tin every other regard is nothing worth noting. The albums final track, "Alles", is built on eerie riffs and mid-paced drumming. The guitar drones and whines throughout, which helps build on the overall atmosphere that this track exudes. The album ends of agonised screams, and is pretty spine-chilling overall. If I have one criticism of this album, it is that some of the tracks on this album are jus t a bit too long; songs like "All Light Is A Lie" and "One Death" could have being trimmed down by a minute or two and not have lost any of its brilliance.

One of the things which really grinds my gears about modern Death Metal is that some bands often rely on Deathcore tropes and generic riffs in order to carry the album, and the band, to worldwide renown. However, ARROGANZ luckily does not fit into this category. This is genuinely some of the most unique and original sounding Death Metal I've heard in a while, and I feel that the band deserves to have far more recognition than they do for their work. They are like Salmon swimming against the tide of mediocrity and copyists. Do yourself a favour and listen to this album, see them live, and help to get these guys further upstream.