This just won't do. Brutal Death Metal is one of those sub-genres, that are so painfully overrated and highly praised by nowadays fans of Death Metal. It was also the "bridge" between classic Death Metal and the whole "core" scene today. Let's think about it for a few moments. The "imposing", yet comical vocal "brees", as they tend to be nowadays called, the hollow sounding drums, the screeching and bombastic guitars and of course the gore-themed lyrics. Now the only thing that's missing are some hip baggy pants and a shitload of breakdowns and we're basically there. I remember back in the early 00s, where classical Death Metal bands such as MORBID ANGEL or IMMOLATION just didn't do it for the new wave of fans of the extreme anymore, so the sub-genre, later to be known as "Brutal Death Metal", arose from the enthusiasm of young newcomer bands, with the aspiration of bringing extreme music to newer heights and greater presence. And that point is precisely where this effort fails.

ACEPHALA is another newcomer band, this time from Ukraine, that jumps on the "brutal Death" train, in hopes of one day becoming the new hammer smashing the stages and audiences with their incredibly "br00tal" sound. Well that's certainly an honorable plan, but sadly, their efforts, or better yet, the musical construct they try to build up here, is a piece of boring and incoherent groove garbage. There is absolutely nothing that hasn't been forced out of instruments many times already. The whole technical riffing is very similar to early CANNIBAL CORPSE efforts, while the drums create a very mechanic and static feeling to the music. To top  that all off, the vocalist's "pig-squealing" (or however you call this crap technique) is as monotonous, as it is horrible. I hope that they are at least exhales. That aside, I do not judge the musicians' competency in means of playing their instruments, but in terms of creativity and novelty, this isn't quite exactly brilliant, in fact, it sucks. If you want to check out the CD, be prepared for generic, soulless "boom-booms" accompanied by hollow and uninteresting song structures.

(Online September 3, 2009)