Following a mediocre 2017, it was hard to draft an album of the year, for most of the releases were one-time lucky listens. If anything deserves an AOTY title it has to be the new CONVERGE record. Well, I'm not here to talk about the new CONVERGE album so let's move on!

Like I said before, 2017 was a mediocre year for Metal, but, among all the genres it was the Death Metal that had the best releases. Apart from some of the mainstream ones, we had a glorious year for Death Metal. That puts us in a situation of reviewing a 2017 album that album won't go unnoticed. KOBALOI, an American Death Metal band that fuse the goodness and heaviness of Old school Death Metal and modern Groove Metal, released "For Nothing We Follow" last year; and this is the album in question.

I don't get the "Old school Death Metal" part as I mostly get the average Death Metal tone from their sound. However, that doesn't make it a bad record. Two tracks in, "Endenial" bursts out with occasional solo parts and has a groovy main riff that will surely make your head bang. "Aphonic Breed" has an unusual intro that is followed by an unorthodox main riff which lands onto another puzzling transition. Some might like the sound, but honestly, it's not my type. I love puzzling transitions in Mathcore or Powerviolence, but not on Death Metal; it seems as if the track is fading fast.

"For Nothing We Follow" has a lot going into it. The band often experiment with bass tapping and harmonic soloing with a tinge of groove characteristics. "Choleric" and "Khold Sin" are on the brighter side of the album. The said songs are wisely written and are easy to sit through it; even though they are longer. Final track, "Throes of hollow" is a good closer that has an addictive opening riff that is equally heavier and memorable - a perfect way to close things up.

Overall, I have mixed feeling about this album. I don't think this album lands on the 'one-time listens' list as some of the tracks are well written. However, at the same time, I surely can't listen to this album repeatedly for 3 or 4 times; it takes a lot of patience to complete the album. Nevertheless, you won't regret spending your 12 precious minutes on the longer tracks, "Choleric" and "Khold Sin".