(Andy Synn turns his attention to the highly-anticipated debut album from Engulf, out 12 January)
There are two well-known truisms which spring to mind when listening to The Dying Planet Weeps.
The first is that “good artists borrow, great artists steal” – which states that while good artists borrow ideas from their influences, while still owing them a debt, the great ones simply take what they need and make it their own.
The other is that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” (or, more accurately, “the whole is something besides the parts”, in its more accurate translation) – which is to suggest that defining the essence of something is about more than just describing the individual elements it’s made of.
And, make no mistake about it, while Engulf (aka New Jersey native Hal Microutsicos) assuredly steal from some of the very best here – you’ll find bits and pieces purloined from the likes of Morbid Angel, Immolation, Pestilence and Gorguts, and more besides, woven throughout The Dying Planet Weeps – the final product is certainly more than just the sum of these iconic inspirations.
Neither attempting to totally reinvent the wheel, nor content to simply follow in the footsteps of their forebears, what Engulf have done here is take Death Metal all the way back to the drawing board in an effort to rewrite the existing blueprint on their own terms.
As a result, while the archetypal elements are all present and correct – sinuous, slithering riffs, taut, twitchy bass-lines, snarling (and surprisingly well-enunciated) vocals, and powerful (albeit programmed) drums – The Dying Planet Weeps manages to sound both “progressive” and “technical” without adhering to a strictly “Old School” or excessively “Modern” formula (though guest spots from Alluvial‘s Kevin Muller, Aborted‘s Sven de Caluwé, and Hideous Divinity‘s Enrico Di Lorenzo certainly position things firmly in the here-and-now).
And while it’s not in any way misleading to bill songs such as the churning “Bellows from the Aether” and the devastatingly discordant “Lunar Scourge” as being “for fans of Hate Eternal, early Decapitated, and early Ulcerate“, they don’t necessarily sound exactly like any of them, even though they clearly share much of the same DNA.
It’s the song-writing though that really makes The Dying Planet Weeps something “besides its parts”, however, as it’s clear that not only has Microutsicos studied at the feet (or, at least, in front of the speakers) of the masters he’s also got an innate knack for managing the dynamic ebb and flow of his chosen style of music, which makes tracks like riff-driven, blast-fuelled opener “Withered Suns Collapse”, the suitably ominous, appropriately grandiose, “Ominous Grandeur”, and the virulently twisted strains of “Plagued Oblivion”, all equally capable of standing firmly on their own two feet (even if they’re still, admittedly, standing on the shoulders of giants).
Sure, there’s still a few aspects that could be improved a little (hiring a flesh-and-blood drummer next time around, for example, could well give the whole project that extra shot of organic intensity it needs to reach an even higher plane) but, when all is said and done, not only does The Dying Planet Weeps successfully capitalise on all the potential demonstrated by the band’s previous three releases, it also hints at even greater possibilities (especially during the proggy blend of eerily contagious dissonance and coldly captivating melody that is late-album highlight “Earthbore”) yet to come.