Review Summary: The apocalypse of the world.
Maltese based band Beheaded have been a long time coming on this record. It’s been seven years since Ominous Bloodline was released and their newest album Never To Dawn is a great addition. This band knows how to be heavy and yet stay relevant as well. The riffs on this album are dark, heavy and just awesome to listen to. Frank Cellaja’s growls are fierce and menacing especially when combined with his screams. Chris Brincat slaughters with his blast beats and keeps this album’s force at maximum with Omar Grech and Robert Agius’ evil riffage. This is one record to brace for.
“Elapsed in the Vortex of Extinction” starts out with an eerie voice speaking biblical references to Revelations before the grind kicks in. This album is extremely heavy and switching speeds and riffs at a moment’s notice before diving back into pure chaos. While brutal death metal album’s like Never To Dawn are quite repetitive, it ends up working for and against them. Each song is guaranteed to have a plethora of blast beats and riffs, it just depends how that band utilizes each element to keep the atmosphere engaging. This album does a very good job of that, while at times falling into familiar territory only to save itself by quickly changing pace. An example of this would be the song “Dead Silence” which has a beginning somewhat similar to “Where Hours Etch Their Name” but suddenly changes course to provide something refreshing. “Towards An Abducted Sun” gives the sense of an epic battle to be taken place with it’s menacing march beats and overall eerie feel. Nevertheless, a great instrumental track.
“Descent Into Sanguinary Seas” freshens things up a bit with some soloing midway through before slowing down to an elephant’s pace. The band also adds an unlikely breakdown towards the end that is a bit unexpected, but welcomed none-the-less. “The Ancient Acumen” leaves it’s final impression with breakneck speed riffs and the same ear splitting sound the band’s been delivering for the last eight tracks. It’s the same thing, but with the flavor Beheaded give all their songs, nothing ever feels that stale. Callaja’s growls are also quite static during the whole album, but being that they are incredibly fierce it’s not an issue.
Death metal of such caliber and technicality can cause quite a bore sometimes, but Beheaded navigate this album so well, it’s so engaging and refreshing to listen to. A handful of times there’s the feeling of “heard that already” but it’s not anything to damn the album. Never To Dawn transitions well between an absolute grindfest and classic death metal and with great success.
4/5
