By this point the members of BLESSED BY PERVERSION are veteran musicians and their brand of Death Metal, heavily inspired by linchpin acts of the 90s, is honed to a fine, crushing point. Remnants of Existence starts off ominous, haunting, and dark as all hell with the hair-raising sonorities of "Descending to the Catacombs". After that instrumental intro, the real work begins. "Gallery of Bones" charges in with brutal growls, pounding riffs, and surprisingly spare-by which I mean it isn't a straight-up frenzy of blast beats-drumming. I love the transition between the simpler, pummeling riffs and the melodic tremolo picking that happens about halfway through; and it's a great preamble to the guitar solo-which is again, very melodic and restrained which is a surprise considering that the band's influences are bands like MORBID ANGEL.

The band ups the technicality somewhat with "Atonement Refused", sprinkling their sledgehammer attack with melodic flourishes and tremolo bursts. Most of the riffs on the latter half of the song could be on a Melodic Death Metal release just as easily in my opinion-which makes this my kind of Death Metal. Not to say BLESSED BY PERVERSION isn't capable of being heavy and crushing, but they do a great job of balancing the two approaches, and not every instrument does one thing. What I mean by that is the vocals and drumming are both absolutely ferocious, and are counterbalanced by more 'artful' riffs. One riff in "Among the Tombs of Ancient Gods" actually reminds me of another famous Greek band, SUICIDAL ANGELS, who I love. I'm not sure if that means these guys are Thrash Metal influenced or if SUICIDAL ANGELS has Death Metal tendencies.

There is not a lot of variation between songs in terms of how the band writes and the types of riffs they write, but they're one of those bands where each song is dynamic and packed full of cool stuff to an extent where variety between songs isn't that important. For example, the same tremolo and other melody-based riffing permeate every track after "Gallery of Bones", which I would call the least melodic song on the album, and the thrashy grooves in the rhythm section are ever-present. "Within Monumental Chaos" does start off differently because it has a clean intro (which true to the song title, is quite disorienting and dissonant). And it shows the band's ability to write smashing, lumbering Death Metal riffs when they feel like it. Particularly the verses, when the drumming becomes more staccato, strike like a ton of bricks. "Within Monumental Chaos" also has the longest, shreddiest, and still eloquently phrased guitar solo on the album.

This is an excellent, excellent album and I recommend any fans of Extreme Metal, but particularly fans of Death Metal and even Melodic Death Metal. It fuses power and musicality in such a way that few bands can manage, and the riffs are unique and not parodies of other bands' ideas. It's one of those albums where you're glad it wasn't their debut because now you get to go back and consume everything else they've done.