To seemingly die in the mid-90's, a short-lived 2000 reunion arguably negligible, 2014 is a year of utmost significance for Dutch Extreme Metal band SOULBURN; "The Suffocating Darkness", their second full-length album, is 16 years in the making. On the back of titan label Century Media, the new album aims to make some new waves, amongst other resurgents such as CARCASS and AT THE GATES. Blackened Death Metal is no solid descriptor. I have no idea what to call them, and that's certainly what I like about them.

Listening to "Under The Rise Of A Red Moon" is almost exclusively Black Metal mastery, with undertones of bleak, scorched Doom Metal. Not so much an Extreme Metal track as it is an ode to the insidious, mysterious, malicious forces of the night, this track is unadulterated evil, the vocals more so evocative, pained chanting, more than simple, run-of-the-mill shrieks. "The Mirror Void" departs in a completely different direction; starting off much like the previous track ended, the drowning Doom overtones give way to grim, precisely-executes bombardments of Thrashy riffs. Delighting my ears with further transgression from the norm is "Absinthesis", with its peculiar introductory passage, and a twisted arrangement of chords in a swampy mire of in-your-face riffing, before diverging once again into the realms of brutal, old-school Death Metal.

"I Do Not Bleed From Your Crown Of Thorns" is easily the best track on the record, least not because of the provocative title. The instrumentation, and vocals especially, reach new heights of heaviness on this track, where the atmospheric, spacy chord riffing translates directly into bone-crunching chugs. A melodious and gloriously-melancholic Doom passage is to follow. This would have been a brilliant endpoint for the album, but nonetheless "Wielding Death" and "Claws Of Tribulation" are to follow. Strong tracks in their own right, I left "I Do Not Bleed..." feeling quite content; by this point, the final two tracks sounded homogenised with what I have already heard, the end of the road becoming muddied in terms of flow. Do not take my negativity to heart; explore them nonetheless.

The band have a right to be proud of this album, especially as a comeback, everything considered; homogeneity and samey-ness, though evident, should not pose much of a deterrent, but I implore one to power through it regardless. Maybe once more, maybe twice more. Surprise yourself.