I thought these Italian death metallers “Fractal” album was a rather dull affair, lacking imagination and the playing ability to compete on a stage packed with ball breaking and masterful death metal bands worldwide. The two year wait for this EP shows the band has changed a bit and improved their writing to come up with four deathly groovers that start with “Needles Of The Blind” embedded with an intro to set the scene. Noticeably the guitar sound has a gritty crunch to it, unlike a lot of death metal today. The band uses a mid tempo mainly but do add bursts of double kick speed. The vocals are throaty roars and growls to screamed pieces that match the songs very well. “Skinned To Feel” has a strangely addictive riff with a quirky guitar tone employed. There are no blast beats here at all and there is also a distinct lack of solos too, focusing on pummelling beats and melody.

The riffs are actually quite original, nothing really to compare them to in my extensive riffing mental encyclopaedia; Humangled has turned out something unique. The opening riff to “Smells Acrid” gives you an indication that some hyper speed assault is about to occur, but prefers to bombard with double bass instead; I’d have preferred a blast to be honest. The tune drops in pace for some sludge ridden groove that alternates with a mid tempo snare burst and plenty of drum fills. Last song on offer is “Deny Your Creed” which starts with a more progressive like riff before shifting into rhythmic double kick and another rather good and catchy riff. This track is probably the fastest but I felt the drumming was a little clumsy and not thought out fully before execution.

As an EP it offers something a bit different on the sound and riffing; as a death metal EP the music is safe, no testing boundaries the tunes stick to the formula with little deviation. Progression has been made since the debut but I think more variation in pace is needed to create a more engaging release.

(6.5/10 Martin Harris)

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