Age of Agony - Machinery of Hatred

AGE OF AGONY - Machinery of Hatred (TERRANIS Productions CD 2011)

I truly regret that I got into Age of Agony music so late. This band has been active since two decades, released already five albums and some other recordings... But first time when I heard their music was three or four years ago, when they invaded my house with "Machinery of Hatred". And I immediately loved this album. This is just brutal as fuck, yet old school sounding, pure death metal effort, which has everything that the maniacs love about this style. So do I. 

This vile strike has plenty of killer songs, many of which blast with truly crazy speed. Yet the music remains quite memorable, because the it's quite simplistic, when compared to all those boring, too technical brutal death metal bands. Age of Agony is more straight forward, with that old school feel, which makes the music more worthy for my taste. And the similarities to bands like Krabathor, Vader, Benediction, Unleashed, Obituary and the likes is quite noticeable. Additionally, the music has a strong war concept, which may resemble legends such as Bolt Thrower, but honestly "Machinery of Hatred" is much faster and more brutal than any record this fantastic British band has ever recorded. Anyway, Age of Agony offers great death metal, which personally I loved from the first listen. Whether we speak of insanely fast songs like "Panzer Metal" or "Alteration", which gives you a feel like you're under heavy fire in the battlefield... Or songs like "The Last Division", "Summoning" and the fantastic "Fortress", which are slower, more crushing and vicious, yet equally BRUTAL... It always sounds great and even if sometimes the music gets slightly repetitive and predictable, I don't care, as it isn't something what would disturb me personally. I love the feeling of this music, I like also the production a lot, especially that nasty bass sound - in this aspect, this album actually reminds me Krabathor's "Unorthodox" album. Definitely it's a must to have for all death metal bangers, support this Hungarian band, because they're very underrated, in my opinion. 

Standout tracks: "Panzer Metal", "The Last Division", "Fatality", "Fortress" 

Verdict: 75/100