Somewhat criminally-overlooked, Italian old-school Death Metallers LECTERN have been spewing their brutal tunes since 1999, 4 studio full-lengths out that year, 2010, 2014 and, now, 2015, with the release of "Fratricidal Concelebration". It isn't that difficult to see from whom the band is influenced; a certain Satanic US Death Metal band comes to mind. C'mon, take a jab. No stranger to massive lineup changes, LECTERN have no doubt soldiered on, and "Fratricidal Concelebration" is a testament to that. "No frills" is an understatement; it's about as basic, to-the-bone, or as Kiwi's would put it, "meat-and-potatoes" as Death Metal can get, an approach that has been consistently dug up and re-buried over the last 27 years. As such, it's not revolutionary and it will not come as a shock, but it is well worth entertaining one's ear.

The title track opens the album with a fantastic and frenetic series of intro-riffs that dematerialise, somewhat awkwardly through a jarring transition to a furious verse. I can't say with much confidence that the opening track set my full attention on the album; certain riffs and certain transitions between riffs steel feel... I cannot put my finger on any other word, other than "awkward". Having said that, the track improves markedly through progressing listening, and speeds up ludicrously towards the end. "Labial Of Inveigher" is the slab of meat I had been waiting for; like the majority of the tracks to follow, it is a finely polished work of brutal art, the riffs sounding decidedly (Deicidedly?) more evil.
"Lordless" breaks the bloodshot ice for a spell, setting a noticeably different change of pace in the tracklist, between the increasingly monotonous slammings of muddy Death Metal heard previous. Marvelously arranged, for one of the shorter tracks on the album it produces a surprisingly-wide array of dynamic and unpredictable riffs; the latter not a word I have been able to find room for so far. "Libidinal Tabernacles" clearly deserves a mention, acting as the album's absolute for sheer speed and aggression; blasts blasting and kicks kicking faster than having been blasted or kicked before.

Far from a 'perfect' death metal album (what is?), the new effort from LECTERN is exactly that, a solid effort, with a number of standout tracks that bounce around in my head, but has a tendency to drown in its own ocean of blood.