Italy is one of the hotbeds of the Death Metal scene at the moment. Over the last few years, plenty of bands have come out of this nation and given us some of the most interesting and technical Death Metal music of the last decade. two such bands, who have gathered a small band of loyal fans around them, are SEPOLCRAL and ANTAGONISM, both established acts with plenty of great material between them.

The song that opens SEPOLCRAL's side of the split, "Angerlust", sounds incredibly vicious and powerful. It's a very modern kind of Death Metal, with very polished production and tight playing. "Plague" is another great, speed-driven song that practically leaps out of the speakers at you, and sounds completely aggressive from the first note to the last. It's easily one of the best songs on their side of this album. "Charon", a short, Ambient track, helps break the album up a bit, and helps build some kind of suspense around the following track, "Media Induced Coma"; this song is a particularly good song with a lot of progressive time changes and riffs within it that shows that this band is definitely morphing their style into something else. It has a lot of the hallmarks of the Death Metal genre, however, with technical, speed driven riffs making up the bulk of this offering. It's a solid track that will most likely be the cornerstone of the bands live set for a while. The final song that SEPOCRAL have for us is another much more progressive track, "Stench", a song with more than a slight hint of a DECAPITATED influence to it, whilst still maintaining it's own distinct flavour. The guitar lines sound fresh and inspired, as do the vocals, and it's a fitting closing track for the first half of this record. As the song fades away, it's clear that the bar has been set high for the following tracks by ANTAGONISM.

ANTAGONISM's side of the release opens with a very nice piece of guitar work, backed by some foreboding atmospheric parts that really set the tone for what's to come. When the first full track, "Fukushima", kicks into gear, we get treated to a much more brutal, raw kind of Death Metal, although it still has a very clear modern and progressive sound to it, in a similar way that the splits first half does. "Instincts of Social Virtuality" is another song that blends elements of Death Metal and Deathcore, which works very well. They get the mix just right, so this will most likely appeal to a cross-section of fans from both genres. It has some standard Deathcore style guitars, which are counter-pointed by blisteringly fast drumming and thick gutturals that are indicative of the Death Metal genre. "Wild Financial Preadtion" goes down a slightly more progressive route, and begins to incorporate almost Punk-esque drumming, which works very well with the music, and is perhaps one of the best aspects of the sound on this song. The final track, however, is the best; "Dishonor-Able" is essentially a classic Death Metal track, with a modern production and some nice clean vocal passages. The riffs on this one are very catchy, and the methodical drumming style that is used throughout complements them perfectly. This is probably the best way to not only end ANTAGONISM's contribution to this record, but also record as a whole.

This is a pretty good record which showcases the talents of both bands very well. It's also a snapshot of the underground scene in Italy and what's its core sound is; using classic Death metal riffs and drumming as a base on which to create some genuinely interesting, technical and progressive music. With any luck, this release will ensure that both bands don't stay in the underground for much longer, and hopefully they will join their nations heavyweights at the forefront of the Mediterranean Metal scene.