Originally recorded in 2012, "The Enemy Of Reason", the second album from the now-defunct Polish Death Metal band ISOLATED finally sees the light of day thanks to the efforts of GODZ OF WAR RECORDS. Previously only released on YouTube, this 7 song collection of tech-death was released on CD in late Sept. of this year and it's a fairly typical ride through familiar territory. I have to give them props for at least sending a nice package of lyrics and other info that make it an easier job to review. You gotta cut them some slack because English is clearly a second or possibly third language but it's still heavily cringeworthy to be treated to such poetic delights as this (and this is a direct cut/ paste straight from their press kit)-

LAST IMPULSE OF DYING BODIES
GATHERS THE STRENGH OF OPPONENTS
AGAINST INEVITABLE SLOWLY AGONY
IT'S GETTING MORE AND MORE BLACKLY

Straight out of Nathan Explosions notebook I guess. The rest of it is cookie-cutter, cliched, anti-Christian ranting, and cartoonish "evil" imagery. And you know, I get it. Native Pagan cultures and religions suffered under the spread of Christianity and that anger and frustration has fueled some pretty amazing music but honestly, it's about as boring as any other religious music. I don't care much for Christian or Satanic metal. Puts me to sleep. Thankfully HALLEY'S vocals are suitably unintelligible so the awkward phrasing and trite subject matter take a back seat to some pretty outstanding playing and songwriting.

"Devilish Verses" starts off with a haunting, ambient texture, and some kind of priestly incantation before bursting into a ferocious blast beat. There's nothing new here but it's really outstanding, intricate playing and the vocals are a satisfying, guttural roar straight outta hell. Production is dense, clean, and organic with excellent clarity. There is an old-school vibe to the whole thing without a false need to make it sound like shit in order to be OG Death Metal. It's raw in its impact but polished and refined in its execution. "Distoting Mirror" is up next, and no I'm not making this up, nor will I fix their spelling errors. Seriously, they didn't have any English-speaking friends to proofread this shit? The song alternates in the verse structure between a straight blast and a loose triplet feel but as the song builds, the blasts gain speed and intensity almost going out of control like a broken roller coaster about to toss you off the tracks.

Track 5, "The God Must Be Dead" has some nice tempo and beat change-ups that give the overall project some variety, and the guitars provide jarring dissonance in their chord voicings. "Confession Of Evil" returns to insane double-kick speed metal insanity punctuated by deliberate ¼ note tom hits. Trem-picked guitar lines drenched in reverb give a ghostly, haunting texture to the mid-section. They close strong with, "Possessed Invocations" that balance high energy intensity with grooving headbanging. Overall, if you like tech-death,  you'll love this. As long as you don't care about the lyrics. Or spelling. Or grammar.