Blackthrash from Chile, named after a Destruction song eh? Well I guess one thing guaranteed here is that South American intensity and integrity with the Chilean dark outlook. Yeah, Invincible Force, on their second full length certainly have that. ‘Doomed By The Vision’ begins with and almost Stuka like howling descent before the galloping guitars smash over you. Slayer-esque vocals, constant drum battery, the occasional tiny bit of freewheeling riffing between the constant chopping and tempo turns. It’s blackthrash on steroids. ‘Perpetual Black Mass’ sans the Stuka attack follows the same hurtling path but the technical feel to the riffing is upped. This may be bass heavy thunder but we’re not really in the muck and feral chaos. This is more a heavy rolling, well-oiled tank, guitar leads screeching and warbling over the top. Everything in meticulous, thunderous, tight order.

‘The Shadow Over Canaan’ convinces me of a few things. Firstly, is you want unrelenting, technically tinged blackthrash with utter devotion you probably need to give this lot a serious go. Secondly, I’m kinda thrown back in time to bits of Aura Noir when I used to listen to them. High praise I know but this lot have been on the go since 2007 so they know their chops This is some people’s lifeblood; this headlong charge, doubling down on the time changing riffing as the machine gun battery blazes around them.

Me… I’m not so sure. I have to listen to this album seriously maybe ten times now. Maybe a couple more. Technically this is impressive; all that speed riffing and chopping and changing tempos. All that power. From ‘Doomed By The Vision’ to ‘Hopeless Mortality’ this is on a constant, charging power trip. It simply flies, an old iron horse with wings. The thing is that even though every song is around three minutes or less they all, to me, feel longer. The constant pummelling is all blunt force trauma with precision and I’ve more affinity with being ripped apart by drunken wolverines, maybe. But really the problem I have is the absence of hooks, of variation from the constant chopping tempo changes. Technically this sounds flawless and has the production to match but as far as songs go… I’m lost I’m afraid. Short they may be but everything quickly sounds so similar that I end up thinking they’re six minutes or more.

For me the songwriting is the weakness. I don’t expect melody or anything out of character but if you’re not a tech head the constant but in the end fruitless chopping riffs and stop-start drumming turning it 360 degrees just leaves me standing still. Unmoved.

Definitely one for true aficionados of this style. The rest of us may be less impressed.

(6/10 Gizmo)

https://www.facebook.com/Invincible666Force

https://invincibleforce.bandcamp.com/album/decomposed-sacramentum