Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors

Poland seems to be somewhat of a hotbed for rabid death metal lately, Embrional are another to squirm out of that festering pit this year with their debut release Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors, and containing members with some degree of pedigree who’ve previously been affiliated with the likes of Besatt and (Polish)Arkona, initial expectations were high enough and I was interested to see how they made the transition to death metal. Everything about Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors initially screamed ‘old-school’, from the impressive logo to the fantastically repulsive and offensive artwork, yet what greeted me initially from the first notes of “Possessed by Evil” wasn’t at all exactly what I expected. Basically if odd time signatures and fancy fret board thrashing is your thing then this will be right up your street.

Frantic, highly technical and harsh guitar riffs are standard fare here, laced with a really heavy gritty production that gives them a real huge metallic grinding tone (thus perfect for eliminating the falses). There is time for a bit of melody, which crops up periodically throughout which I must add is actually rather impressive in the shape of some cavernous guitar leads. A good example would be in the instrumentals which serve more purpose than just pointless filler with “Necropolis” being exceptionally impressive. The drum work, well how do I put this? Don’t like blasting? Well too fucking bad, because there isn’t much else, though it does slow down a bit from time to time so you can apply some antiseptic to those blisters and skid marks on the back of your skull before being repeatedly thrown back into the whirlwind of speed centred technical madness again. The vocals themselves are fairly pedestrian, a deep gravelly roar and while nothing earth shattering do the job well enough.

What I don’t like about Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors is at times it all becomes a bit much and ends up a bit of a repetitive blur, a lot of the songs are too similar; this is a heavily saturated style of death metal and one that has been done countless times before and brings nothing particularly fresh or exciting to an already cluttered table. What I do like about it is while being a heavily intricate work, it doesn’t sacrifice the atmosphere which was all so important to death metal back in the early days. It combines just the right amount of atmosphere and technicality for a fusion which lies somewhere in between Morbid Angel and Origin; I suppose if you want a comparison, countrymen Decapitated wouldn’t be too far off. If fannying about with keyboards and synths are your thing, then avoid, for those who like it fast and furious with an intensity and precision that will leave your brain in knots then I’d certainly suggest a listen.

I haven’t been as attentive to the underground this year as I have in recent memory, the glut of quality A-list titles clogging up most all my time here in 2012 (though not working for zines anymore is surely also a contributing factor), but the praise surrounding this one caught my notice, and its since wormed its way into my heart as one of the most interesting new death metal projects I’m aware of, period. Embrional hail from Poland, a country rich with brutal death metal ancestry, including modern juggernauts such as old school legends Vader, tech death wonderboys Decapitated, and black/death icons Behemoth. Embrional, though, play a decidedly different variation of the art, shunning monstrous open-chord riffing in favor of odd progressions of acrobatic, fibrous licks that are all over the place, super creepy and off-kilter but maintaining a sense of encroaching darkness throughout. This is their second effort, but the first that I’ve heard from them.

The production here is quite satisfying, definitely worthy of note, lacking excess studio sheen without sacrificing any audibility. It’s nice, full, and natural, befitting the timbre of the individual instruments as they shred along with knife-fighting precision. Embrional have this vibrant, neon alien guitar tone that I associate with Origin’s radical flurries of notation, like a glowing emerald compared to death metal's usual slab of coal. Its like, when all the other death metal kids were training with battle hammers, these guys picked up light sabers. Thus, opposite the crushing nature of their contemporaries, they dance and flip around the fret board with energy, grace and precision. The riffs creep and slide along in this fantastically otherworldly way, supported by a whirlwind of insane drumming, courtesy of the incredulously skillful Kamil. Being a drummer, I feel his performance alone is worth the price of admission here.

Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors is an instrumental tour-de-force, always impressing without ever feeling like unnecessary wank, gyrating between face-ripping blasts and dense, mid-paced atmospheric streams of muddy grandeur. There are tons of odd, unsettling melodies woven into this compositional patchwork, lending even more weight to the overwhelming sense of otherworldliness. Marcin’s vocals are planted firmly in a deep, gravelly growl, sounding just alien and monstrous enough to be the perfect companion to the creeping, grimy nature of the riffing.

If there is a fault to be found, it’s in the construction of the tracks themselves. Not that I find anything wrong with them, per se, but there aren’t many strong hooks that will keep you pressing repeat. Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors is unceasingly interesting as it winds its way through these filthy, alien corridors of lightly progressive, semi-technical weirdness, but a good amount of it is not going to stick in your memory banks for long, at least not at first, and this ratio of intelligence over accessibility is going to limit its audience. As with many technical records, the tendency toward rampant differentiation sometimes decreases the impact a repeated section could have had, branding itself more easily in the memory. That said, there is more than enough here to make this a special treat worth repeating, with lots of ‘what the fuck’ moments that twist your mind like a gummy worm, snapping you in half and devouring the sweet, sweet remains. Like most extreme metal, you’ll reap as much as you sow, and investing some energy in getting to know these songs more instinctively is not only rewarding, but a lot of fun due to the never-ending tricks on display. Special mention also goes to the fantastic cover art, a beautifully drawn throwback to the late 80’s, early 90’s black/death metal underground.

Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors straddles an impressive line between the gore-soaked, cavernous depths of more traditional death metal and the cosmic gymnastics of modern technical exertions enough to be of value to both camps, so I strongly urge anyone with brutal inclinations to give Embrional a chance. For comparison, I’d point first and foremost to Origin, but I also hear similarities to Aurora Borealis, to an extent newer Absu, and the lesser-known, but utterly life-crushing Embryonic Devourment. Their sound is their own, though, refreshingly ignorant and inconsiderate of any trends, just doing its own epileptic, monstrous dance, and we’re lucky enough to watch. Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors is glistening with potential, and I have extremely high hopes for them.

-Left Hand of Dog
http://reaperdivision.blogspot.com/

It would seem the Polish are very big on death metal, 'cause here's yet another death metal band from Poland. However the four-man strong band Embrional have a niche a tad bit different; Progressive death metal with some strong black-ish tendencies.

Their sound is utterly chaotic and sounds like the soundtrack to psychosis. The near constant blast-beats mixed with the choppy and incredibly precise guitars makes the music sound a bit segmentary and hacky, but it serves the important purpose of focusing the attention on blistering speeds and intricate riffs.

What this, in turn, affects is my enjoyability of the music. Embrional, like so many other progressive and technical bands, have sacrificed variety, groove and hooks in the pursuit of intricateness and technicality, thereby losing a lot of appeal.

And yet, even if Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors lacks catchy riffs and variety, it kind of grows on you. You start noticing the little things, and the atmosphere isn't half bad. I feel that Embrional needs to mix things up a little, but more melodic tracks like the instrumental Necropolis does help a little in that regard. Yet the fact that most of the songs are incredibly similar actually makes those kind of tracks feel more odd and out of place. However, the fact that the quartet's music sometimes has a certain black metal feel makes it a little more interesting - It gives the music an extra advantage over many of the other bands of the genre, like how Augury's use of clean vocals and Fleshgod Apocalypse's use of classical music makes them stand out.

To round up, Embrional is a promising Polish band with 2 albums on their rap sheet. Their own personal brand of death metal features blistering fast blast beats, technical guitar riffs and deep, growling vocals. Though a bit lacking in variety, they do their thing in a satisfactory manner and Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors is an honest and damn solid attempt at the genre. I don't care particularly much for progressive death metal because in my experience most of the bands focus too much of their energy on being "intelligent", but I found Embrional's second album to be worthy of several listens. Their guitar work and vocal efforts especially are strongpoints in this band.

Originally written for http://gouls-crypt.blogspot.com/

Never once have I omitted the wonderful Polish death metal of the 90's and secluded them from all the other wonderful scenes which flowered at that time, and admittedly, it's hard to forget with such bands like Vader, Magnus, Schismatic and Danger Drive, thus the scene today seems to be dotted with bands exploiting relatively diverse and differing styles of their own. Perhaps it's still not as dominant a tyrant than the Swedish or American scene, but whether it's the atmospheric swaggers of Pandemonium, the crushing momentum of Centurion or rather straightforward approach of Embrional, the scene houses a number of quality bands, readying themselves to squirt and explosive barrage of death metal. Embrional may be closer to straightforward death metal territory compared to the other acts I've mentioned, though the sporadic attachment of queer melodies and intricate deliveries of sharp, piercing notes garnish their Floridian sound much more. Embrional's sophomore is an onset that will strike you, break you and dazzle you before you can even raise your shield to guard yourself.

While the cover art may teem with filthy maggots of crude death metal, their style actually stands as a polished aspect of the music, disabling any raw quality that you had hoped to hear before you were just glimpsing at the album art. However, there's still a satisfying face of this sudden change in events. The ceremonial art of decapitating ghouls and digging grotesque graves may be gone, but I can't agree that this fully polished, either, and especially for a band who can muster so many outbursts of vigorous combustion with little depression or oppression hidden under the riffs, a frigid aura of old school brilliance is a huge bonus for the band, even though the listener may only be able to taste glimpses of it. Embrional have been inspired from Floridian acts like Cannibal Corpse, Malevolent Creation and Deicide, adding a fair amount of thrash crust to the blasting barrage of half-technical riffs, enhanced by the amount of intensity and brutality. The drums are almost always of double-bass mode, never ceasing to slam in with the right beat and the guitars slide on a slimy trail of ooze, grinding, chopping, trimming with razor sharp tremolo bursts and diminished chord sequences. Maintaining the level of speed and intensity should be the least of your worries, because with such eerie passages of strident riffs controlling the direction of the album, you'll gladly headbang until your neck can literally take no more.

Tracks like ''Bestial Torture'' and ''Possessed By Evil'' are absolutely monstrous tracks, crypt fiends that waste no time lingering around and just get on with the ruthless decapitation process, evil and sordid as it can be. And what about the groove-laden thumps of ''Maniacal Madness''? The song's a beast on its own, but the classic drum/guitar cooperation is now sprinkled with tiny segments of palm muted notes, like a scorpion crawling and escalating towards your skull, and slowly tearing off a dot of flesh with its mechanic pincers. The whole album is an absolute manifestation of hateful riffs like these and each riff is diminished in length, lasting for a second, them passing the honor to its brother, which fades away a second later. The riffs are so mechanic and so intricate that it may hard to focus on them at times, and the great thing about Embrional is that they can keep that level of intensity and velocity canned (though not lacking liveliness) so that the music doesn't even border to brutal technical death metal, all thanks to the carnal explosions of old school goodness. So many bands are rehashing their masters yet they almost always end up inferior too the beast they were copying, but Embrional's sophomore is inventive, strict, malicious and it never lacks fuel for the fire. A mighty fine effort that exceedingly solid, but still outrageously vigorous. At first you hesitate, but you learn to like it.

Highlights:
Bestial Torture
Last Step Into Nothing
Possessed By Evil

Rating: 85,5%

http://laceratedthrashmetal.blogspot.com/

It’s not gonna be an exaggeration if I say that I’ve been waiting for years for this album to come! Yeah, I’m a fan of Embrional’s music ever since I got their first demo “Cusp of Evil” in 2006 and since then I’ve been trying to support the band as much as I could and been watching them, waiting for more recordings. The “Annihilation” demo 2007 was a cruel death metal massacre and then the split with Empheris was just awesome, but I was hungry for more and at the same time I was quite disappointed that such a killer band does not get as much recognition as they truly deserve! I mean, how many maniacs from outside of Poland know about Embrional at all? And the years were passing by and there was no sign of a full length album from the band! I already started to think that they’re been cursed or something, but finally the news about “Absolutely Anti-human Behaviours” came! It was about time, for fuck sake, I didn’t want to wait until I’m 60 years old to listen to another recording from this amazing band! Of course one may say that the quality should prevail over quantity and in the case of Embrional it does work, as only four recordings in six years is not much, but they’re all killer… Also one may say that when the appetite grows and grows, the better the feast is. But what can I do, if I’m so inpatient? Anyway, I was also quite disappointed that it is Old Temple Records, who handles the release of “Absolutely Anti-human Behaviours”. Well, I have nothing against Eryk’s label, as he’s doing a fine, but very limited job. I don’t know whether he’s going to be able to push Embrional as far as the band truly deserves it! His financial possibilities are very limited, so is his distribution… But who knows, maybe he’ll go a good job? I hope it’s going to be better than what he did for Abusiveness, whose excellent last album didn’t really surfaced outside of Poland. We’ll see.

Trust me, “Absolutely Anti-human Behaviours” is worth getting. This is just a massacring, annihilating death metal slaughter, of the best quality possible. Embrional takes a lot of credit from the top US based death metal bands – Immolation, Incantation, Morbid Angel and Nile to name just a few, but taking influences from them do not bring them any shame, as the way they composed and performed their songs is just top notch and truly excellent. “Absolutely Anti-human Behaviours” offers very thick, dense portion of nuclear force, which is tight death metal riffing, accompanied by very fast drumming and raspy growls of Marcin. The music tends to be quite technical and complex in many parts, but luckily Embrional does not cross the line, after which the music gets too complex and annoying. They don’t put thirty riffs per minute, often making sure that the music is more varied, with slower parts, even some melodic guitar leads and first and foremost, there’s a dark and grim atmosphere present all the time. Even if some of these riffs are quite complex and almost weird, in its technically advanced playing, Embrional still gets them right, often they’re almost catchy and thus their death metal do not belongs to the group of bands, which play fast and brutal just for the sake of being extreme.

There are many memorable riffs on “Absolutely Anti-human Behaviours”, like in “Bestial Torture”, which may start with fast and relentless part, but soon slows down rapidly and offers even an impressive harmonious guitar lead. On the other occasion Embrional putted an acoustic fragment into their song, what – I have no idea why – reminds me Immortal hehe! So, there are plenty of excellent and awesome songs on “Absolutely Anti-human Behaviours” and it is really hard, if possible at all, to point out, which the best fragments of the whole album are. But definitely, when I listen to such riffs, as the opening theme of “Dismal Sign”, then I just can say that I love it and just bang my skull when listening to it. This one actually reminds me Gojira a lot, would you believe? And that excellent solo in the mid part of this track… Yeah, Embrional does show how good musicians and composers they are and definitely “Absolutely Anti-human Behaviours” belongs to my favourite death metal albums in the history of Polish death metal at all!!!!!! There’s really nothing bad I can say about it. The production on it is just top quality, very dense, brutal, very energetic and powerful, much better than what you could hear on the band’s previous recordings, which had a rawer and more underground sound. Here everything sounds just awesome, each drum part and guitar riff are like a thunder and napalm bomb and the vocals of Marcin – who again sounds quite close to Ross Dolan – are just superb. On top of all that, “Absolutely Anti-human Behaviours” has quite cool front cover and the foldout booklet is also something extra. Arggghhh, no way I’m going to let this CD leave my stereo soon… Definitely “Absolutely Anti-human Behaviours” belongs to the best Polish and not just Polish death metal albums and I cannot recommend it enough to you. Buy or die, listen to it, bang your head, break the crosses and read some excellent vicious lyrics. 666.
Final rate: 95/100

Bands like Vader, Behemoth, and Decapitated dominate the Polish death metal scene, yet there are other, lesser known bands who produce finely formulated death metal from Poland as well; Embrional being one of them. Emitting a clear partiality for technical prowess and complex guitar sequences, this four-piece focuses less on the raw aspect of death metal and leans more toward the brutality and the technicality, the latter becoming the biggest trait of their music. That’s not to say that they are outright tech-death like Decapitated or Necrophagist (a genre of which I’m not particularly fond of), because they balance the scale of technicality/brutality/rawness nicely, and don’t overdo it with either of those. Perhaps it’s wrong to say ‘rawness,’ because quite frankly, their music is refined and considerably polished, and there’s not much ‘raw’ death metal to go around, if any at all.

Embrional are clearly influenced by some of the more technically proficient in the genre, and while they’re driven toward lots of modern characteristics and tendencies, most notably the overall ‘brutality’ of their music, they are still able to retain some of that old-school vibe that crops itself up on occasion. Not unlike thousands of other retro tech-death bands that have been emerging incessantly of late, Embrional take their death metal and kick it up a few notches, i.e. keep the speed and intensity at a considerably high level. Most of the riffs are fast and concise tremolos, save some eerie melodies here and there and some more awkward picking styles. They’re driven madly by the drums, which play quite a large role in the music (also a common trait in newer bands - the mistaken belief that the drummer has to be blindingly fast) and very, very rarely slow down the speed. Embrional are also quite fond of those melodies I mentioned (riff after intro to “Bestial Torture”, among millions more), where they unleash quick bursts of tremolos, and perhaps they even overstay their welcome somewhat; chuggy and dissonant spurts of speed… these are thrown all over the place, and honestly get tiring after a while.

The vocalist’s harsh gutturals are yet another similarity that Embrional share with modern bands, vapid and commonplace growls that do little for their music. Luckily they’re not overbearingly loud in the mix, and all the instruments are equally loud in the mix, providing for a balanced result. Despite my distaste for tech-death bands and how easily boredom can arise from their music, Embrional actually mix in little enough of that technicality to make their music fairly interesting, and switch up styles often enough to keep my attention. For some reason, however, I keep leaning away from their more technical songs and keep coming back to “Necropolis”, one of the two instrumentals on the record, that reminds me of the weird tremolos that are present in some of the more unique and strange bands of the genre, namely Portal. Overall, though, “Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors” is a swift achievement and a solid effort, and many people should enjoy listening to their music. And even though they play nothing that hasn’t been played before, they avoid sounding like a complete copy of any one band, so for that I congratulate them.

-SmithMetal84
http://ravenousreviewswebzine.blogspot.com/

The current underground DM scene is certainly in good shape, sure it's a bit derivative, but there enough bands doing cool things to make it more than just a incestuous worship love in overall, but with that said, it's not a huge leap to say that even the more easily differentiated bands of the movement tend to stick to doing one thing over and over for an album. Funebrarum combine Adramelech leads with Abhorrence's pounding grooves and Incantation's tremolo madness and doom, Encoffination bang away on super slow simple riffs and grumble deeply, Horrendous sound like Death; when a good band finds something they're good at, they tend to knuckle down and work on that for the duration. Embrional are an interesting switch up on this recurring form of structuring which takes just about everything good about every era of death metal and hurls them at the listener as quickly as possible with a surprisingly cohesive effort.

Absolutely Anti-human Behaviors tends to take the pulsing riffs of Immolation, lays them out in much more straightforward rhythmic direction, then throws evil lurking tremolos, catchy lead melodies, old fashioned simple as they are brutal death bludgeonings, glorious solos, thrashy breaks, semi technical picking, all delivered with more appreciation for the beauty of the riff than of simply having an evil atmosphere than most of their contemporaries. All of this is presented with a reasonably clear but still organic sound, which on Immolation terms would sit between Here In After and Close to a World Below, topped off with what may be my early favourite for cover art of the year. This is a goddamned beauty.

While the album is mostly played at extremely high speeds, Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors is an exciting beast to listen through, along with the more overt breaks from the pulsing carnage like the melodic "Beyond the Abyss" and "Necropolis", there are several straight out face smashers like "Maniacal Madness", which abandon the Immolation envy for straight up old school brutal death, and particularly in the last four tracks there are a few major turns for the slower, which even further break up the many styles on every song. Really the only thing that doesn’t work in a lot of ideas is the vocals, which are pretty simple guttural roars, most reminiscent of Ross Dolan for the main part.

The guitar and drum sounds are perfectly chosen to suit the constant shifts in modernized and primitive musical direction, it neither hinders the sheer weight of some of the most old fashioned and weighty moments or take away any of the visceral and technical appeal of much of the frenzied picking which make up the most intricate of passages. The drummer is very technically accomplished but mercifully not mixed too loudly, nor are the kicks out of proportion with the rest of his kit. These guys are all about the riffs, and they've got a perfect sound which follows what the guitarists feel like doing at any particular moment in time.

This is a simple album in reality, it really is as simple as "play awesome riffs fast", but in this simplicity I feel like Embrional's second effort offers a hell of a lot more than so many underground death metal acts around today. This is always about the riffs and nothing but the riffs. This isn't atmosphere free, but it is not as atmospheric as many bands around right now, but really, the recipe for darkness and morbidness is pretty simple, and not enough of those bands have the sheer riffing quality to back it up, these guys have sacrificed a bit of ghoulishness for just a chance to wreck your mind with twisted and pummelling riffs from many different schools of death riffage, and it's magnificent. Maybe I'm being a little harsh on the new OSDM scene by lumping these guys in with them, because these guys are anything but murky odes to crypts of yesterday, but what can I say, this beats out nothing but mood setting any day.

I remember Embrional's debut Cusp of Evil from a few years back in 2008. A decent mesh of new and old school influences, with a clear penchant for weaving a good number of instrumentals in through the more brutal fare. The Polish quartet has now returned for a stronger followup in Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors, which seems more or less like they sent their earlier compositions off to a refinery and then emerged with more memorable results. The cover art here makes this look like a total nostalgia trip, perhaps to some approximation of a black and death metal hybrid, but what actually manifests on the album itself is a solid variety of surgical, semi-technical riffing and influences scattered between the old Dutch and Florida scenes with perhaps a touch of Immolation and early Vader. Ultimately, this sophomore proves that Embrional is well deserving of your attention, if at times the songs are somewhat inconsistent in overall value.

Generally, bands at this level of proficiency and intensity tend towards a more modern polish in the studio, but I must credit Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors for its more earthen, natural and raw tone. Not void of reasonable clarity, mind you, but the rather organic landscape plays well to the intense skills of the drummer, and the guitars seem to pluck out your spine one vertebrae at a time whether they're crashing along to some dissonance tremolo picked sequence or erupting into this fibrous, creepy melodies above which the gutturals drone on like the ivy encrusted walls of some forsaken tomb being pried ajar (as in the opener, "Possessed by Evil") by corpse robbers. I love the surgical barrage invested into the riffing progressions, alternated between febrile muted mechanical thrashing and surges of old school, abyssal evil. What's more, several of the lead sequences here are incredible, like the early bridge in "The Last Step Into Nothingness" or the fell majesties that permeate "Bestial Torture". Did I mention the drums? Because this guy, Camillvs, is assuredly a beast who must have made some pact with diabolic forces to hit as hard and often as he can...

There are only two instrumentals present, far less than the debut, but both are quite expertly handled. "Necropolis" is chalk full of sensible leads over an old school attack of muted tremolo progressions, while "Beyond the Abyss" is a tasteful, resonant acoustic piece. Neither is quite as brutal or punishing as the rest of the album, but they make for an appreciation 'break in the action' (though the latter might have been placed a little later on the track list for a greater balance). Otherwise, I've got no tangible complaints. The vocals are pretty typical gutturals, but the way they echo alongside the thinner, crisp guitars makes for a lavish, menacing contrast that adds a malevolent breadth to the atmosphere. Once in a while the ruddiness of the guitar texture reminds me Australian oddities Portal, only far more controlled and accessible. I would say that Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors is well poised to earn the band a wide following: the time is right to strike at this old school, death metal nostalgia, yet Embrional do it without being stupid or a direct derivative of any one sound. Wretched, brutal, and archaic, yet somehow still forward moving and thinking.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com