Having only formed in 2020 this international act comprising band members hailing from the USA, Canada and Mexico has a spate of releases out, predominantly singles but also one EP before this bludgeoning full length. You could probably guess the sonic output based solely on the band name and album title, and you’d be right. Centring themselves within the brutal death sphere the band is uncompromisingly punishing adding plenty of tech workouts to ensure the listener is utterly assailed by the instrumentation.

Quite why there is a five second intro piece called ‘Indoctrinated’ is bewildering as it is over before you even take a breath and leads into the pummelling title track. What marks this release as a tad different to the seemingly unending number of acts purveying this type of death metal is their sense of atmosphere and whilst the title track has a ton of slamming savagery it is tempered and enhanced by atmospheric guitar work, not of the blackened kind, but just the way the guitar tone and hooks weave into the fabric despite the massacring onslaught.

‘Architect Of Reality’ follows the title track and immediately stamps on the gas, with blast beat rage blending with the alternating deep and harsh vocal tones that I really liked. The drum programming is excellent, plenty of variation, as ‘Architect Of Reality’ begins with drum fills and blast beats punctuating the constant mauling the song subjects you to. Those atmospherics I’ve mentioned reminded me of Carnifex’s latter era material though without the deathcore riffage, but no less bone-crushing as another act came to my mind listening to this album called Bonecarver (formerly Cannibal Grandpa) as they too utilise atmospherics in an extremely positive manner.

With a full slam riff shoved down your throat ‘Hollow Sanctuary’ is embellished with an almost synthetic robotic vocal tone, even if only briefly, to elevate the song into even more brutal realms that fans of Analepsy will appreciate. As a slightly longer song it is given the opportunity to weave its enraging complexity into a sinewy knot of chaotic extremity. Slam fans will love this album, it is saturated in plenty of opportunities to raise those hammers aloft, but those atmospheric touches are where this band sits aside from their competitors in the genre. Smashing in is ‘Void’ with a ridiculously catchy riff and bombarding density that produces a colossal wall of brutalising bedlam before a short interlude offers some respite.

The respite is brief as ‘Shadow Of Time’ has an eerie guitar tweak that is slightly unnerving and atypical for the genre before the songs monstrously heavy assault ensues. The speed on the album is often insane but well controlled as ‘Paradox’ proves and whilst the general consensus is that this release rockets by on virtually every song, I did like it when they switched the tempos around as on ‘Clandestine’ which has an initial hyper speed blast coupled to some Cannibal Corpse like guitar tweaks. However when they drop the pace into that head slamming speed the result is staggeringly effective and leaves only ‘Cult(Ure)’ to conclude this storming debut. The slower riffage dominates initially, choking density is backed by hostile vocals and an intensity that makes you sweat buckets. Again the band uses some subtle atmospheric elements and even if this album didn’t have them it’d still be an excellent release but having them adds another layer of pulverising prowess to the bands repertoire ensuring this brutal technical death metal album is going to be a highlight of 2023.

(8.5/10 Martin Harris)

https://www.facebook.com/apths

https://realityfade.bandcamp.com/album/endless-cycle-of-suffering