Deep from the underground of New Jersey, Hal Microutsicos brings us an aggressive one-man project called ENGULF. Already with two EPs in his repertoire, Hal brings us the third installment of ENGULF with his new EP "Transcend". It is a brutal, mind bludgeoning experience that dives deep into the world of the Death Metal genre. He created this project in 2015 and releases his music through Everlasting Spew Records based out of Italy. With the rise of technology in the musical community, one man projects are beginning to create a unique space for themselves. The ability to develop a project such as ENGULF requires an immense amount of dedication and talent. You have to write all the tracks, be able to perform them in front of your mic, play all the instruments, as well as mix and edit all of the audio. They do provide unique music that we can all add to our musical libraries. "Transcend" offers us a four track mix that you may want to consider adding to yours.

The opening track "Bane Of Fire" hits you right in the face with deep churning riffs before opening up into an explosion of power. The instrumentals are a fast paced, grinding blend of Thrash and Death Metal. Accentuated by eviscerating vocals, this provides a strong opening to the EP. "From Chasms Deep" sticks with the grinding instrumentals but also provides more dissonance to build the track. This song is filled with blast beats, ruthless vocal work, and even brings us an interesting guitar solo towards the end. "Birthed Into An Empty Grave" does sound similar to the last track but does offer a slower, burning style of instrumental work about half way through the track. "Drowned In The River Of Styx" is the tour de force of "Transcend". This track is relentless, brutal, and pulverizing. The vocals reach a level that it overpowers the instrumentals but in a good way. This track gives you that Death Metal cringe face and makes you want to throw down in the pit.

"Transcend" offered some strong tracks as well as songs that missed the mark a bit. The middle tracks were a bit repetitive. "Bane Of Fire" and "Drowned In The River Styx" were very well done from a musical standpoint. The vocal work on this EP was strong and Hal Miroutsics has some talent with Death Metal vocals. I do wish that the drums were not programmed and used on a live set, but I do get it. Drums can be very difficult to play and the sets do take up a lot of space. I'm not taking away from the fact that the programmed drums were still good, it just doesn't have the human element of being actually played. "Transcend" is a solid EP and a decent third installment of ENGULF.