Founded on September 1, 2010, in the Netherlands, ANARCHOS contains members of bands like ETERNAL, SOLSTICE and SATANIC TYRANT among other. The band unleashes an intense brand of Death Metal that is as brutal as it is melodious. I, for one, couldn't classify it as Old School Death Metal, even though there were traces of that style in the song structure. The songs are fierce and like a wall of sound, they don't relent until they pound you into submission. The band released a demo in 2012 called "Tortured beyond Death" and followed that up with an EP in 2014 titled "Descent into the Maelstrom". Seven years after the band formed, they have released their debut full-length album "Invocation of Moribund Spirits" and disregarding the uneven production value, the album is interesting, to say the least, replete with some dark and ominous sounding riffs. The gravely vocals adds to the atmosphere of dread and they have done a remarkable job in setting forth an incredibly violent album.

With a runtime of just under 38 minutes, this savage album holds you captive with its intense wickedness. While the songs hover around an average of four minutes, its four minutes in hell! The album starts off with the double bass drum heavy "Far beyond Infinity" which pretty much sets the mood for the rest of the album. "Through whom they Crawl" is a slightly slower, sludge-filled song that flows with the speed of molten lava, before kicking up a notch and transforming into a mid-tempo song. The stand-out song for me is the noisy "Cold Funeral", an intense just-under-five-minute song. "Initiating Lawless Rites" is the last but one song of the album and starts off with an ominous riff before galloping into an entirely agreeable melody.

So, what works for this album? The ferocity of the songs is a definite plus point. The guttural vocals make an unholy alliance with the brutal music. On first listen, the album came off to me as being jarring and under-developed. However, on subsequent listens, I found it growing on me. This record is a good debut effort from the Dutch Metallers and an easy recommend for people who enjoy the high octave and ruthless melodies. Although the sub-par production value of the album made it difficult for me to give it second listens, I did manage to listen to the tracks a few times and, in the end, found it rather agreeable.