ANTROPOMORPHIA is a Blackened Death Metal band hailing from Tilburg, a city in the Netherlands in the southern province of North Brabant. They have been active since 1989 and since then have put out a number of releases such as "Sermon Ov Wrath", "Necromantic Love Songs", "Rites Ov Perversion", "Evangelivm Nekromantia", and their latest "Merciless Savagery".

What drew me in when this album began was its heaviness and darkness. It had a very dark and malicious sound. I won't say that this is something that is original, or has never been done before. The album is pretty generic and basic, if we are speaking in terms of Blackened Death Metal. There really isn't much that stuck out to me in aspects of originality. From beginning to end we hear a variety of low tuned, sinister riffs. The songs all keep a steady tempo that isn't too fast or too slow. Sometimes, it was hard to distinguish one song from the other because they all use the same formula. Which is fine, being its the band's style. It didn't completely bore me, the same tempo for every song and riffs that sound similar to each other, it can sound a little repetitive. What really saves this from being under subpar is the vocals and production. If the production and vocals were weak, then I don't think I would've cared for it at all. I don't want to sound like I am completely ripping this album apart because its not bad. It has it's perks. It's really heavy, it's dark, and the production is solid.

Some songs that stuck out to me were "Cathedral ov Tombs", "Wailing Chorus ov the Damned", and "Luciferian Tempest". To be honest, these three didn't stick out because they were any better or different from the others, they just happened to be the top three I chose after listening to the album for a second time. "Cathedral ov Tombs" starts with some eerie guitars that sound like they are echoing from the depths of Hell, then a slow steady drum beat comes in, transitioning to a heavy chugging style riff. It has a monstrous catchy and chunky riff that is repeated a couple times throughout the song and has a somewhat melodic lead riff after four minutes into the song. "Wailing Chorus ov the Damned" begins with a clean dark rhythm and lead guitar, then transitions into chaos. The closing riff to this song is pretty bad ass. "Luciferian Tempest" was probably my favorite of the top three tracks because had that coolest and catchiest riff in it. If you're listening to the album, you'll know exactly the riff I am talking about when you hear it. Towards the end we hear some creepy female vocals.

In the end this album is solid, but don't expect it to be a new experience if what you usually listen to is Blackened Death Metal. For people who don't listen to that genre of Heavy Metal and want to explore it, I would say this is a good introductory to the genre. <