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Brutality > When the Sky Turns Black > Reviews
Brutality - When the Sky Turns Black

When the Screams Turn into Anguish - 78%

Hames_Jetfield, June 25th, 2023

Blood boils at the thought of albums like "Screams Of Anguish" not breaking through to the top of the genre. This album had ideal predispositions to put Brutality in a row with the most iconic names in death metal - it was such a brilliant and essential material. Reasons for such an incurious state - as it soon turns out - were unfortunately not lacking (a.o. too late debut time date and so-so promotion), although the musicians themselves...did not feel particularly affected by this fact! Shortly after the release of the debut, Jay Fernandez left the group, and a year later there appeared in his place Bryan Hipp, with whom the band released their second lp - "When The Sky Turns Black" in the same year.

However, first impressions of "When The Sky Turns Black" are...ambivalent, and even disappointing. Well, the Americans clearly changed some important issues in relation to "Screams Of Anguish". Because while the original, death metal side successfully continues the patents known from the first one album (although as a whole it's not as twisted and extreme as before), a cover barely at the beginning smacks of quite dubious ingenuity and coherence, and all miniatures and instrumentals do not fit to the rest of the regular material as well as on the debut. In this way, (too) soft instrumentals like "Awakening" and "Esoteric" can knock you out of the all rhythm (this time a bit more groovy - not to be confused with death'n'roll!), "Violent Generation" clearly lacks vocals (and - surprisingly - there was a lot of space for it), and the Black Sabbath cover "Electric Funeral", although perfectly reproduced, does not fit the rest of the death metal repertoire at all. Fortunately, delving deeper in this longplay, it immediately turns out that these fillers do not take away so much power from the rest of "When The Sky...". Despite the reduction in explosiveness, Brutality's music is still quite intense, full of inventive and varied guitar ideas (albeit with a slightly less technical) and surprising plot twists, as well as being catchy and a great feel for the overall melody. Examples include "Artistic Butchery", "Race Defects", title track or "Shrine Of The Master", which in the context of the size of the album - simply - could be...a bit more, considering the rank of the genius of "Screams Of Anguish".

However, brutal (haha) it may sound, "When The Sky Turns Black" did not maintain the same peak level as "Screams Of Anguish". Of course, this is not a bad album, but due to its chaotic tracks set and a high - for them - number of stop-gaps, this disc is not received as enthusiastically as the debut. After all, at the times of "Screams...", to quote my own words, they reached the pinnacle of death metal at its early times. Here, I'd rather not make such bold claims.

Originally on A bit of subjectivism...in metal

Solid would be an understatement - 85%

autothrall, April 25th, 2011

After taking a sizable stride forward with Screams of Anguish, the unsung Brutality would do it all again the following year through When the Sky Turns Black, their second album for Nuclear Blast. Anyone familiar with the debut will recognize many of the same strengths: a clear and powerful Morrisound mix courtesy of Jim Morris, tightly executed musicianship on par with most of the Florida peers, forceful songwriting cognizant of fluctuating dynamics. If there was one minor evolution of note, it seemed that Brutality had become more focused on the incorporation of melody directly into their hammering rhythms and tremolo guitar lines. I'm still drawn to comparisons of UK bands Benediction and Bolt Thrower, but these are due in part to the gruff and level gutturals.

When the Sky Turns Black is inaugurated with the title track, rolling double bass rhythms like concrete pylons beneath the scintillating dual melodies, soon to lurch into a grooving tumult with miniature, spliced leads. It's not immediately catchy, but it picks up intensity around 1:15 when the double bass returns to accompany a more carnal, disgusting riff. "Race Defects" uses an airy, clean guitar passage before its own alternating blast/grooves commence, moving at the same relative pace as the first track. Like Screams of Anguish, there are a couple of moderately brief instrumental passages here in "Awakening" and "Esoteric", both tasteful and driven by the clean, acoustic guitar tones. They've also included a cover of Black Sabbath's "Electric Funeral", which it turns out is pretty damn effective as a death/doom hybrid, but most of my favorite tracks here come later on the recording: the staggering, oft bursting "Foul Lair", the meaty fortitude of "Artistic Butchery", or the pulverizing climax "Shrine of the Master".

With all of the keys to success here, Brutality should have broken out far beyond their regional association, but this album ultimately wound up in the same seat of obscurity in which its elder sibling had planted its considerable posterior. Seriously, not many death metal records of the day possessed a production standard this high, and it has retained its polish through the years. If I'm comparing it to Screams of Anguish, then I'd have to place this slightly beyond the debut. There are still some barriers restraining it from the status of a masterpiece, primarily the fact that the majority of its guitar riffs are not individually distinct or masterful enough to scale that height, and the vocals don't have a ton of character to them. However, in every other department, this band soared. Memorable, iconic cover art, good lyrics, potent musicianship, varied songwriting that never numbs the listener. It's well worth the expense to add this to your CD collection.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com