{"id":56719,"date":"2017-05-25T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T00:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=56719"},"modified":"2017-06-04T23:14:40","modified_gmt":"2017-06-04T23:14:40","slug":"album-review-intoxicum-of-reign-and-demise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-intoxicum-of-reign-and-demise\/","title":{"rendered":"INTOXICUM – …Of Reign And Demise (2017) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

INTOXICUM
…Of Reign And Demise<\/strong><\/span>
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\nSelf-released (2017)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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…Of Reign And Demise<\/em> is the second outing for German death thrashers Intoxicum, and it comes seven years after 2010\u2019s Parasites<\/em> debut; so hopefully the wait has been worth it? Well, straight from the off we\u2019re treated to an atmospheric, slow-building introduction before the four-piece goes into full flow, and it\u2019s one that impresses.<\/p>\n

Intoxicum have a dry, stuffy sound (possibly due to lack of budget) which adds to the atmosphere of this very good ten-track affair. The fantastic cover art \u2013 like something from the mid-to-late 80s \u2013 doesn\u2019t really give us an idea as to what is contained within. But once you do dive in you\u2019ll be greeted by an extremely accessible opus that blends together death-coated thrash, and the more I listen to it the more I love it.<\/p>\n

The first track is the menacing and mostly mid-tempo \u2018The Spanish Eye Ripper\u2019; a great choice of subject for a track that exudes suspense, but there\u2019s plenty of compressed grooves on offer too. In fact, it would be unfair to call this style of music simply death thrash. Sure, there are faster segments and at times there\u2019s a hoarseness to the vocal expressions, but the mid-tempo chug fests are truly hypnotic; combining methodical, thinking man\u2019s drudgery with galloping and almost traditional metal flips. But it\u2019s a hard one to pigeon hole.<\/p>\n

Generally, there\u2019s a no frills ballsy metal approach to the proceedings, and yet with so many little surprises waiting in the wings, as evident on that opener and certainly more so on \u2018Homunculus (A Lesson In Logic)\u2019; a killer tune of varying shades, with an unusual solo here, a grey stabbing chug there, and then a stray into the likes of Pestilence and even Swedish extreme metal areas.<\/p>\n

Third track \u20182000 Years\u2019 certainly brings the deathlier traits. The drum is an insistent prod and the vocals are a deadly bark, but again the groove in general is massive \u2013 mid-paced bludgeoning with such instant chops before the deadlier pace kicks in. In fact, Intoxicum\u2019s latest outing boasts a sound you may feel familiar to, but maybe it\u2019s that amalgamation of styles which enables the band to drift so effortlessly and again, as with \u20182000 Years\u2019, the guitar is just king. There\u2019s also a traditional into power metal segment which gets me every time, breaking away from that harsher clime.<\/p>\n

One certainly senses a degree of angst throughout, but as the album progresses so does the quartet. The punky upstart of \u2018Crowned Donkeys\u2019 features a kick-ass drum jerk and then an overall sound of muscularity \u00e0 la Prong, but with deadlier scathing running through its veins.<\/p>\n

Boy is this melodic yet beefy stuff, hinting at some sort of mid-to-late \u201990s groove and yet something way too cool to be thrown in with the fads and trends. Instead, it\u2019s seemingly very simple \u2013 four guys churning out a tight, flailing edgy crossover of extreme styles, even with black \/ death metal tinges. But it just never rests, and that\u2019s something that wins me over; the fact that this isn\u2019t even a complex record, but one which flows through a myriad of styles while always maintaining a streetwise style.<\/p>\n

Imagine if you will a side-project of some death metal stalwart happy to return to his classic metal roots. \u2018Same Shit, Different Century\u2019 confirms this, as does the frothing \u2018Self-Oppression\u2019 and closer \u2018Acoustic Emetic\u2019; a flailing, wild thrashing death blast. But even by the time the final cymbal is crushed I\u2019m eager to dive back in, realising how greedy I am for this seemingly straight-forward, yet mesmerising chunk of beefed up metal of many ingredients.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INTOXICUM…Of Reign And Demise Self-released (2017)Rating: 8.5\/10 …Of Reign And Demise is the second outing for German death thrashers Intoxicum, and it comes seven years after 2010\u2019s Parasites debut; so hopefully the wait has been worth it? Well, straight from the off we\u2019re treated to an atmospheric, slow-building introduction before the four-piece goes into full […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3478],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intoxicum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56719"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56721,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56719\/revisions\/56721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}