There are some pretty good old school death metal bands from Chicago, amongst them in the scene would be Cianide, who has been somewhat inconsistent in releasing LPs over their long career and this band Cardiac Arrest who has been quite consistent. They've maintained the same lineup for quite some time as well, which goes to show you that this form of entertainment (extreme death metal) they're quite serious about.

I look for specific things in critiquing extreme metal albums, mainly the music, the vocals, the recording quality and if it's a continual progression musically or about the same. On here, compared to 'The Day That Death Prevailed' (2020), it is definitely a progression musically and a more mature release on top of that. Seems that they've really blew my hair back with this one because you've got at least 3 different voices transpiring on a given song and the guitar riffs that are brand new covering all under that, as well as the unrelenting aggression factor!

A lot of their earlier LPs out there don't include the lyrics. The vinyl/CDs/tapes are now beginning to include the words so it's more known that to which their brutality lies, besides just along the music. Only the last 2 LPs have featured the lyrics. A personal favorite from frontman Adam Scott is the song 'Victims of Blasphemy'. I've actually found that ALL THE SONGS are my favorites. There's none that are really bland to me, seems intriguing because as much as I like their previous releases, not ALL THE SONGS were my favorites.

I did not find any holes or gaps on this LP, it is continually HEAVY, it is original sounding and it is very consistent. You can hear the guitars, the bass and drums quite well, on some of their previous LPs, especially the earlier material was good but the recording quality (despite the well composed music) was a little void. You'll hear everything on this one, it's balanced out & not overly recycled.

It's quite surprising because not a lot of old school death metal bands continue to evolve. They either die-out, or they just don't evolve. CA is living on since 1997, so show support for them as they continue to RAID Chicago and worldwide! Make this one a part of your collection!

Rating: 10 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
03/23/2025 10:55