Fairly popular Death Metal group INGESTED are soon to release their fourth LP, "The Level Above Human," and I had the privilege of listening through, and telling you my thoughts about it.

The band didn't really go for a Death Metal revolution, I think that much is obvious if you listened to the promo single, "Invidious," a song with a catchy main riff and some cool vocal dynamics, but of not much uniqueness or overall charm. Personally, I wouldn't have released this song as a single, let alone a promo one, since there is far more and better stuff that the record has to offer. One such example is "Transcendence of Gods," a track with similar vocal dynamics, but one that possesses much more of an intense edge, with blast-beats, tremolo riffs (so the usual extreme metal stuff, basically) and the breakdown placed quite tastefully. One positive that shines constantly throughout the LP is the production and overall sound design. The guitar tone, snare, and vocal assaults on here are all organic, and orgasmic as hell. The producers and mixers all have my praise, because this album managed to sound thick and heavy (not brutal, HEAVY) just by sound. Another thing I really liked about the LP is the previously mentioned vocal dynamics. Besides Black Metal screeching and a few obscure ones, we have pretty much all harsh vocal styles mixed - again - with great taste and balance, and since I usually hate Death Metal vocals, I can say that's a fairly big thing coming from me.

However, "The Level Above Human" is pretty far from a perfect album. Not intending to revolutionize a genre is one thing, making a generic record is a completely different one. While it's certainly enjoyable, I could practically grasp that little, circle-shaped comfort-zone the band limited themselves to. Borderline NO experimentation or attempt at distinguishing themselves from other acts of their genre, and with extreme metal, even though it's a hard task, it's very much needed, so that's a severe flaw. The album's genericness also manifested itself in my mind as boredom, a little bit on tracks 6 and 8, and heavy yawning on the last three, especially the conclusive one. "Last Rites" kinda sparked my interest with it's acoustic, but it became a very underutilized aspect of the composition. Regardless, that acoustic riff is probably my favourite on the whole thing.

I feel like if INGESTED experiments, at least a little, they could become a great force in today's american Death Metal scene in my eyes.