6 years ago Greek Deathers DEAD CONGREGATION created a rightfully revered, essential opus with “Graves Of The Archangels” which despite its obvious main influences – INCANTATION, IMMOLATION, MORBID ANGEL – was blessed with a fervor, intensity and seriousness that allowed them to quickly rise and become an admired entity within the extreme Metal underground. They just proved damn slow in unleashing new material while keeping busy onstage and gathering a worldwide legion of supporters. Fortunately, “Promulgation Of The Fall” blows away any anger about testing your patience for so long within a split second and continues DEAD CONGREGATION’s ascent towards the unholy pantheon of Death Metal! It proves more diverse, focused, sophisticated as its predecessor effortlessly shifting between ferocious speed, twisted yet grooving riffs, eerie, melodic leads to soul crushing doom elements. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here, this is a bleak, archaic, raging monolith of Death Metal! Authentic, honest, unpolished, great! Personal highlights include the furious ‘Only Ashes Remain’, the surprisingly slow and ominous title-track – which reminds me a bit of INCANTATION’s ‘A Once Holy Throne’ as it equally builds up a stupefying tension – or the 7min+ long ‘Schisma’ with its dramatic composition where dissonant riffs erupt in barbaric brutality. Also, ‘Immaculate Poison’ with its crawling, hypnotic ending part is an absolute scorcher, but we are talking about an album that does not contain fillers anyways as it is flawlessly filtered down to the genre’s very essence. Sounding organic and raw, almost live, “Promulgation Of The Fall” is a prime example of how amazing classically inspired Death Metal can be without blatantly copying anyone and its merciless impact can be brought down to the simplest formula of all times: great songs, great sound, great atmosphere, great attitude. It is meticulously crafted from start to finish and ultimately mandatory morbidity that will surely top many year’s end lists. A fix position in my top 3 is very likely, hehe. Personally, I hope DEAD CONGREGATION will continue to unleash new albums a bit more steadily in the future as they carry the potential to become a legendary act within the genre carrying the torch of darkened Death Metal’s glorious forefathers onward to Golgotha and beyond. So, do not weaken, do not falter, just keep it f**kin’ up, folks! CD is available through Martyrdoom Prod, US CD will be handled via Profound Lore, vinyl via N:E:D. www.deadcongregation.com