Gorephilia - Embodiment of Death

GOREPHILIA - Embodiment of Death (DARK DESCENT - CD 2012)

I'll say it straight away - "Embodiment of Death" is my favourite recording from Gorephilia and one of the best death metal albums from Suomi in this Century. This album is unbelievably good and everything about it sounds perfect to my old, rotten ears. The performance of all band members, the production, songwriting - everything here is top quality and even within this old school death metal niche it has impressed me a lot, offering much more than most of the other bands will ever be able to deliver and without sounding even a tiny bit dull. 

Obviously "Embodiment of Death" is not an album, which would serve us anything uncommon in the death metal sound. Nope, it's as intensely influenced by the likes of Incantation, Morbid Angel or Dead Congregation as possible, but Gorephilia doesn't really sound tired or repetitive, because their music sounds insanely powerful and the riffage is just excellent, so this albums storms through like crazy, killing with every bloody song. They achieved a perfect balance between the intensity and brutality of death metal with more crushing and slower, sometimes even melodic stuff, so the music is very dynamic. There's something great going on all the time, keeping my attention and forcing to bang my skull maniacally. Blasts have an insane force, they sound fierce and merciless like a savage bloodthirsty beast unleashed and impossible to stop. It can sometimes sound like a brutal wall of sound, which is due to that production. I love it, you should play it loud and it will really burn your speakers. Slower parts have heavier, groovy and more memorable feel, I love how sometimes they get that Morbid Angel-esque vibe, so mesmerizing and infectious, like in "Forget Mortality" or partially in "Saints Without Souls". Oh, there's just not a bad song on this album and frankly, I cannot imagine a death metal fan, who would not like "Embodiment of Death", unless he's a pussy. Then i can understand why he prefer melodic crap like Kataklysm or Amon Amarth. Ha! But here we have a near perfect album for me, I even like that artwork with fuck knows what it is there haha. 

Standout tracks: "Forget Mortality", “Pantheon in Flames”, "Saints Without Souls" 

Verdict: 85/100