Review Summary: One of the most prominent modern death metal bands returns for their sophomore effort.
Fossilization is a band that burst on to the death metal scene with massive force with their 2023 debut full-length,
Leprous Daylight. The album contained some of the most venomous death doom metal of the 2020s with cavernous riffage and production dripping with wet tar. In my opinion, the production of that album drove it right over the top, sounding a lot like the early death doom bands that we've all come to know and love over the years.
Advent of Wounds was one of my most highly anticipated albums of the year and my expectations were sky high. Did it meet those expectations? Mostly, but there are a few hiccups along the way.
First off, death metal is all about tasty riffage, and if you have that, there's a huge chance that the seasoned listener will enjoy the album as a whole. In that regard,
Advent of Wounds definitely succeeds. What I noticed about this album compared to the first one is that this is a lot more death metal heavy than
Leprous Daylight. The doom influence is still prevalent, but it seems as if Fossilization were more keen on bashing the listeners’ brain to a bloody pulp this time around. Delicious riff after delicious riff will pound you like a heavyweight boxer beating on his opponent. Each track has at least one “stank face” riff that will have you banging your head until it falls off of your shoulders.
My main gripe with this album is that the production is just not as good this time around. It's just a tad cleaner and more modernized and that takes a bit of the edge off that was present on the previous release. In the grand scheme of things,
Advent of Wounds still sounds awesome, but the filth is turned down just a bit more than I feel like it should've been. Fossilization brought forth a sound that equated to a 200 year old corpse rising up from their dilapidated tomb. This album doesn't quite have that sound, and while it doesn't bring down the actual music, it's just my personal preference.
That being said, as I mentioned, there are still riffs and blasts out the ass, and of course that is the main ingredient in any death metal release. The gripes about the production are minor when all is said and done and
Advent of Wounds does end up being one of the best death metal releases of 2026 so far. If you're like me, you won't mind the slight production changes when that first riff hits you in the mouth. That my friends is what death metal is all about.
