Repent ye sinners, for the end is nigh! So it's been said by many a preacher preaching hellfire and brimstone in a canvas tent, or ringside, or outside the walls of Altdorf. Do you have a moment to talk about the End Times? How about fifty-two minutes?

Well, catalog your transgressions, clear your day-planner, and call a team of priests because THE DEVIL WOCKS AMONGST US YET AGIYYYYIN!!! Like a newly risen spectre from the great old days of Satanic Panic, Danish Death-Metallers TARDUS MORTEM positively befoul the airwaves with their chaos-inducing sophomore release "Armageddon". The first three tracks take nearly forty-four minutes, and all five songs make for a cacophonous sarcophagus.

"Condemned To The Halls Of Infernal Sin" is clear enough by the title, and it delivers an old school (or maybe the right word is 'fundamentalist') Death Metal tune, replete with tempo changes and an off-kilter bass solo near the front. Following up is "From Heaven's Throne Thee Bring Forth Death", which does nothing to alter the music's current trajectory.

Then comes the super-heavyweight "Gust Of Armageddon (Suicidal Winds)", a planet-threatening Death metal colossus which follows along as the album has done so far. The growling kicks in a little before the six minute mark, and it's quick to see that the song's extreme length is achieved with riffs repeating for a few bars and tempo changes aplenty. Keeping time without a clock is near impossible on this track, which combined with a littering of outro riffs, will leave the listener clueless that they're nineteen minutes in for the crazy good solo. A final stanza and a half minute fade eventually work to slay the beast.

But wait, there's more! The much more conventional "Nun Of The Pyre" comes next, a remake of their 2018 single which benefits greatly from improved production values. Finally, at long last, ending the album is a cover of the GRAVE classic "Into The Grave", which is given a faithful interpretation in their own style.

So with extra long tracks like a Death metal EARTHLESS and occasionally sounding like it's been pieced together from sessions, "Armageddon" is an intense but ultimately subordinate album. It seems unlikely to attract new fans to the scene, and most Death metal fans will only be intrigued by the lengths, but will be left wishing for more, because this is just more the same.

Then again, that's the very nature of playing old school Death metal these days; the perception that the genre is softening leads many to flock to what they know already works. TARDUS MORTEM might not be bringing anything new to the table, but for those already impatiently sitting there, "Armageddon" should be one satisfying meal.