Dispensing a brutal form of technical death metal, this is the experienced German band’s fourth full album release. Fire and brimstone are guaranteed.
There’s no surprise element here – it’s as advertised so heavy, hard, brutal and technical. It’s the technical insertions that I found most interesting. Without doubt Orphalis know how to construct and develop a song, and are adept at what they do. One whirlwind replaces another. It’s not straight line. That would be boring. Songs develop and pass between sections of creative darkness. I particularly liked “Ritual of Conflagration” which combines solid riffage and drumming with dark and explosive technical passages of thunderous brutality. The movement is good, and it all helps the excitement level. The explosive thunder continues with “Watch Them Descend”. It didn’t really take off for me, however. What it needed was a transition, which we get in the next song “The Wolves Draw Near”, which follows the same relentless and brutal path but adds an atmospheric element. The unremitting nature of this could never convey the aura of something epic, but there is menace and danger, and I liked that.
“An Effigy to Humanity” was fairly average in the brutal death stakes, and whilst I could always feel the power and energy running through the drummer’s sticks and appreciated the guitar work, I was looking for change-ups and change-downs to keep me interested. “Staring Into Ruin” heads into more interesting territory. After a little interlude, slam bam crash goes “From Shadows Arisen”. It seemed like a continuation of what had gone before the interlude. It’s hard, it’s heavy and thunderous. If the objective is crushing brutality, it is successful. An epic element finally enters the soaring “Labyrinth Configuration” before plumbing the darkest depths. This maelstrom of a piece stirs the juices, introducing varying atmospheres and even into a guitar solo into the standard brutality. It ranks with “Ritual of Conflagration” as, to my ears at least, one of the most interesting songs. “To Embrace Defeat” has a nice guitar line but ultimately it’s another exercise in plumbing the depths and exploring death metal territorial waters. Menace signals in the final song “Crowned in Hatred”. Barring one short passage towards the end, the pattern which follows is familiar – loud, brutal and like a tunnel boring machine in action.
There’s no doubting the intensity or level of assault of this album. Technically it’s on point too. If looked at on a pure technical level, “The Ashes Settle” is right up there. Whilst admiring its brutality, I did find the moments of excitement to be more fleeting than I would have hoped.
(6.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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