Thrash / Death is getting more and more popular in Italy as time passes by. It seems that our fellow neighbors slowly managing to overcome their obsession with melodic power metal. Bands spawning from Italy sound influenced by several styles in the genre: Lunarsea for example follow a Swedish approach in their sound - on the other hand Hamartigenia sound more US-oriented kind of band.
They do carry around a weird moniker as a name don't they? Well Hamartigenia is an ancient Greek word stands for the birth of sin - cool, yet at the same time bizarre (haha). The band was formed in 2002 originally doing covers of their favorite bands but soon enough started working on their own material. The outcome was Blood On Sacrifice in 2002 (though they don't consider it as a demo) and the live recording Visions Of A Declining World in 2003.
This six track EP now is a good step ahead for the band. Based on a good production (in general terms) the band presents a raw (but not in your face) sound deeply influenced by thrash from the 80's and more modern extreme themes. This might not be my cup of tea but indeed there's proof of hard work documented in this CD. The razor sharp guitars create the anticipated aggressive attack while the rhythm section handles a deep pounding upon the speakers.
There's room for improvement. Yes indeed no mater how hard I tried there were times I forced myself not to press the next button and the EP is salvageable mostly cause of its short duration. Still I can understand that a band in such early stage of evolution needs some basic guidelines. Thumbs up for the very good artwork - it's always good to see young acts paying extra attention to such details.     
In conclusion this EP seems like a good step ahead for this Italian act. Let's wait and see their progress.