PROCREATION is a four-piece Death Metal act out of the Netherlands. "Ghostwood" is the band's debut album, released in 2014, and contains nine tracks. "Killing Culture" wastes no time establishing an fast and ultra-deep sound, complete with speedily picked guitars, pig squeals and semi-guttural vocals. It's pretty well dead center in terms of the traditional genre boundaries. "Menelik the Sovereign" is a little slower in pace as the main riff provides some more musicality. The vocal wails are pretty serious and the drumming demanding. "The Frenzy is Tideless" is definitely a frenzied song in terms of the package presented, and the guitar solo is a nice addition to the background sound during that section. It's almost Black Metal during that part.

"Violent Rays" is the first track where the sound diversifies somewhat, at least in the beginning. The riff is very dissonant and the chords unconventional in nature. It sounds like you are caught in a fiery and barren wasteland and things are falling down from the sky trying to decimate you. The title track, "Ghostwood," has a nice lead-in to build up what is to come, complete with a finger tapped guitar lead that registers in the Classical music realm. This is the song I have been waiting to hear on the album. It's a bit of a risk for the sound established so far but it shows more of the band's songwriting capability in my opinion.

"The Circle in Black" keeps that vibe going and I can feel the album start to peel apart in layers, instead of remaining stagnant like some Death Metal can do. A heavy, plodding bass riff provides the momentum here. "Reflection (Of a Dying World)" goes even further into uncharted territory, with a splendorous little acoustic guitar number. I would have liked to have heard some more of this sound, as it brought some sadness to the table which is always a good way to break up too much brutality. "Can't Stop the Bleeding" closes the album and is the odd man out in terms of length, being over eight minutes long. It's more of an epic exercise and incorporates more than a few different writing techniques and passages. This is an album that seems to get better as it moves along and you can hear their confidence growing. I also find it generally to be more interesting and more dynamic that most Death Metal and would look forward to hearing more from this band in the future.