Gorefest – Rise To Ruin

Label – Nuclear Blast

Year Of Release – 2007

Retaining the classic line up, Gorefest have undergone yet another minor change in their sound. The band has eschewed all of their classic metal influences in favour of a focused and at times almost brutal death metal attack. The vocals of Jan-Chris De Koeyer again provide much of the punch on the album. The band are tight as fuck and nail down the songs. The production is old school and the album sounds like it could have been made in the 90s.

Highlights include the raging “War On Stupidity” which is pure old school death metal and sounds a bit like early Unleashed. The epic “Babylon’s Whores” at a shade over 9 minutes is probably one of the longer songs the band has written and is a killer death metal track incorporating the feel of mid-period Gorefest with their new aggressive sound. The big chugging riffs are present all over this song and the band truly sound like they’re on top form. Other highlights include the awesome “Speak When Spoken To” and album closer “The End Of It All.”

“La Muerte” was a bit of a surprise as the band had gotten heavier on their comeback release, but with “Rise To Ruin” the band has actually topped the aggression of “La Muerte” which completely surprised me. The music is old school death metal, the production is old school and yet Gorefest are playing with so much conviction right now that none of these songs sound dated.

While the album may not convince the new breed of extreme metal fans who have grown up on Pro Tools and triggered drums, “Rise To Ruin” will most certainly bring a smile on the face of the hardened old school death metal fan. “La Muerte” was in retrospect the calm before the storm. Too early to determine exactly where this album fits in the bands varied discography but it is still safe to say that Gorefest have delivered an album that matches up to anything the band has done before.