Death metal played by hardcore folks that sounds too much like death metal played by hardcore folks, if you know what I mean. Careening between whorls of chaos and sludgier segments it’s all routinely savage, albeit interspersed with some dank, clanking atmospherica (dripping pipes, rattled chains, strange gurgles, etc.). The overall vibe is Morbid Angel meeting Altarage, but there’s also a lot of Converge seeping in. While such a pairing was inevitable given the shadow Converge have cast over extreme metal, it’s one that doesn’t really fit – the hardcore elements distract and detract from the overall foulness, leaving ‘Embryonic Devils’ little more than a lumpily listenable diversion.
