Adversarial – All Idols Fall Before the Hammer
Did Adversarial’s drummer sneak into the studio at night and remix this album? The snare drum steps all over what sounds like some very deadly and technically charged death metal writhing within a pleasingly evil and old school atmosphere. The drum mix itself is all snare and toms. The kick drums are just as lost as the guitars and vocals. What seems like a solid and gutturally sick vocal performance, rarely do the screams peak through the suffocating hold the snare has on this release. In fact, it’s painful to listen to on headphones. What I can discern from the few riffs that surface in the rhythmic blunder that is the production of All Idols Fall Before the Hammer, the songwriting perfectly walks the line between malevolently dissonant riff ideas that snake through sinister atmosphere, before scorching the world with perplexing technicality. All this and Adversarial seem to not lose sight of memorable songwriting. The cover art and title of this release, along with the music herein strikes me as really good with a lot of potential to rank right up there as one of the few releases that embraces the ancient ways of death, AND the slicker teched out insanity of modern death metal that I actually like. Slower tracks like “In a Night of Endless Pain, War came to Flood his Heart” expertly build with intensity and excitement, while the slower tempo and less drumwork actually allows the listener to hear the music. In this respect, Adversarial teases us with what could have been and makes me eager to hear what they can accomplish in a proper studio. Just as long as they maintain that evil atmosphere… that’s all I ask. SO much potential here… pissed away on a crap mix.
Dark Descent
Worm Gear 