Preludium

Impending Hostility

Diabolical Conquest Records 2010

On their third full-length album Poland's Preludium bring us ultra-brutal and technical death metal brimming with aggression and blinding speed.  Right out of the gates, guitars spit lead like so many belching machineguns on Legacy of Destinations.  The drums spew constant tom rolls and precision snare strikes over massive bass drums.  Rapid bursts of speed bookend lulls of rumbling bass drums and lumbering riffs as Realm of Void blasts its way through its 3-minute length.  Melodic leads find there way into the mayhem.  Desolation is overran with spurts of drumming intensity and harmonic guitar squeals.  At times hints of Morbid Angel are dropped into the undulating rhythmic passages.  Thick lurching riffs, with a true warlike menace open Bitter Cold and bring to mind a melodic union of Boltthrower and Morbid Angel and is the one track to really break the paradigm cast by the rest of the album.  As soon as the songs ends, we are blasted by a salvo of frantic drumming and meaty riffs, brutality on full exhibition.  The final track, Warfare is an atmospheric beast that begins with clean guitar and then shifts into heavy riffs, not unlike Hail of Bullets, but with less morbidity in their tone.  The track draws to a close with a martial drum beat.  However, despite the technical skill displayed and the unrepentant bludgeoning my eardrums are assaulted with, Preludium seems a bit flat and somewhat rehashed.  A lot of this has to do with the unremarkable songwriting that fails to really form at least an attempt at of a unique identity or anything catchy or memorable within the constant acrobatic bouts of speed.