Hailing from Finland, death metal quintet REFUSAL releases their second full-length record "Epitome of Void" via Great Dane Records. The released their debut album "We Rot Within" three years ago, and almost exactly like the debut release, this album contains nine songs with a total play time of 32 minutes.

Opening the album is "Suffocate", a two-and-a-half minute relentless assault that contains a fair share of melodies. The song also possesses some CANNBAL CORPSE influences as well as a little SLIPKNOT resemblances. "Hectic" is more melody-oriented compared to the first song, and has a better and catchier main riff. The mid-paced song will somehow remind you of the older AT THE GATES stuff. "Disregard" is the most melodic song in the album. It has groovy riffs and a great intro. The tune is a bit reminiscent of DEATH's "Low Life". The song also has a very memorable chorus and a good bass solo, which would make a very good live performance.

They once again showed their ruthless style in "Exploit", the shortest song in the album. This song is the album's angriest, fastest and most aggressive track in every aspect - the drums, the bass, the guitars, and the vocals. It possesses an old school punk attitude, which almost makes this song a pure Grindcore if not for the short (but really badass!) solo. The song then overthrows straight to "Bound", which is a perfect balance of melodic and brutal sound. The blasting drums is unforgiving, while also having a strong but not too overused melody. The riffs are also strong, combining with the thick bass in creating a really heavy atmosphere. It also has a brief breakdown - an original property of every classic thrash and death metal bands before Deathcore overused it and made it sound ugly.

Before the final track is another catchy song because of its melodies - "Futile". It sound almost like death n' roll to me. And it sounds really great! The tempo is mid-to fast, and the drums and guitar riffs played it perfectly specially in the opening parts. It also has a solid outro, which also served as a transition to the closing track "Void" which is pretty much a reincarnation of everything presented before it except that it has the longest instrumental of all the songs.

I'd say the album is a good one. It has a huge share of melodic death metal and some moments of pure pounding. They excel on both styles but they have chosen to be more melody-oriented which is just okay. I also think that the songs would make very good live performances especially "Hectic", "Bound", "Futile" and "Suffocate".