Those with a craving for dirty, grimy old school Death Metal will find that urge sated upon listening to INFERNAL THORNS' newest album. The riffs are all caked in a layer of filth befitting the genre, and the vocals are even filthier. I don't know what escaped from Cthulhu's homeworld, but now it fronts a Death Metal band! The gurgles and growls on "Sacrilege" shake the earth and simmer like bubbling acid at the same time. Of course the drumming is possessed of a frenzied enthusiasm and force as well, with long sequences of blast beats like on "Serpents" proving to be an exemplary workout.

For the most part the riffing is pretty murky and disappears into a hulking wall of sound designed to crush and embattle the listener, but there are some nice melodies on songs like "Ancient Witch", which uses tremolo picking to create an atmosphere as well as define a melody. There are also some evil-sounding midtempo riffs that bring the rush of sound down to a grimy saunter for a small respite in between brutally harsh chugging. The song ends with a brief solo-although I use the word solo like I would if I were describing SLAYER's music-in other words, less a solo than a flurry of squealing trills and whammy bar accents.

The band sems to alternate between normal length songs (about 4-5 minutes long) and very short songs (less than 3 minutes long), although there is not much difference between the two categories. Both are hard-hitting, devoid of preamble, and full of the same kind of wild abandon. The clearest song on here is one of the shorter ones; "Faithfulness" is interesting for its slight toning-down of the otherworldliness of the vocals, as well as the greater definition of the riffs. It even brings in a consistently present pull-off hook, which is rare for the kind of raw, savage Death Metal that INFERNAL THORNS play. The band also embraces their love for ominous melodies on "A Death To Celebrate". The more typical approach for the band is found on songs like "Satanas Lux Aeterna", which in addition to having a Satanic name hides its melodies and riffing under a curtain of ripping drumming and sludgy distortion. The melodic sections are there-and sound akin to those you'd expect from AT THE GATES, as dissonant and angular as they are-but it's necessary to listen a little bit to discern them.

This is not an album that can claim to have any surprises on it. The songs all share similar patterns when it comes to the drums and make use of very similar melodic ideas. Once you've heard "Ancient Witch" you may as well have heard "Camino al Averno", for example. It's a positive in that you can tell very early on if you will enjoy the album or not; and if you like Death Metal in its more primal stages that sticks close to how the Swedes do it, you should enjoy this. I think my biggest complaint (that doesn't lambaste Death Metal for being Death Metal) would be the lead playing. It feels sloppy and fails to be exciting because of that. Despite some lackluster solos, the songs are generally well put together and dynamic enough.