Polish black/death metal band MISANTHROPIC RAGE drops a new material this year that will soothe the dark souls out there. "Hallucinatory Phenomena" is a seven track album recorded at home but can stand to any studio production of its class. It's massive sound will prove again that the golden age of fancy recording venues and producers has gone. All you need is a vision and of course some skills (but that's nothing you can't learn if you put your heart and mind to it). Classic fans of the genre will appreciate the 90's approach. A lot of melancholy is to be found between the riffs and the song structures will please the entire death metal community.

With no exceptions, all songs, have the same sound. Everything is very constant. Same guitar tones will follow throughout the entire album. The beauty is to be found in the dreamy parts that have been inserted between the growls and the beats, without disrupting the whole death metal vibe. The productions is not shiny and super polished, although the overall achievement is amazing. It's a bit muddy. I would consider this to be done on purpose, in order to obtain the old school feeling. No instrument actually really sticks out. The bass is in the back, you can barely distinguish it. Heavy distorted guitars (trademark for the genre) rule on each song. The drums are pretty natural. Quite nice in the whole picture, even if some might miss the piercing sound of triggers processed to the max. The spices that bring full flavor to this material would be the hall, reverb and delay used on some guitars whether they be in the back or up front. A few passages of clean vocals might scare off the most orthodox ones, but I assure you there are very of them and they fit. "Further" and "Void" would be the two tracks that stand out. No instrumental songs, no album introduction and outro. There is no way we can blame them for that, as we're getting a fix of the good stuff.

The underground is a lot more stronger with this release from MISANTHROPIC RAGE that gives strength and backbone to the whole death metal scene. It actually proves that it will still go on and the listeners may rest at ease. It's all still there! Even the artwork deserves kudos for bringing back that original death metal vibe in style again. Give it a spin and it will death-spin you!