DORMANT ORDEAL (the name is too much gothic for comfort) have throughout the years evolved from a one man project to a full band, and “It Rains, It Pours” is their first full length. Being a sucker when it comes to Polish Death Metal, I jumped at once on the opportunity to review this album. Let’s say this record is a solid one, offering quality music, even if the result leaves me with mixed feelings. Gone are the days when every Death Metal record out of Poland was an event, even a minor one. Nowadays, the sound is more uniformed and heavily processed, and some of the vital urge found in the past has waned. It is pretty obvious that the DORMANT ORDEAL dudes have kept themselves informed on what is going on the the worldwide extreme Metal scene, trying to mix traditional Death Metal (not old school though) with more modern vibes, in an attempt to kill two or three birds birds with the same stone so to speak. Indeed, some djent and Metalcore (without the annoying screamed vocals fortunately) elements can be found here and there, and the overall atmosphere sounds a little bit confuse and confusing, leaving the listener scratching his / her head trying to figure out what is exactly going on. Maybe next time DORMANT ORDEAL should define their intent in a clearer way. I have nothing against variety in music, but this demands work as any other element to come out with a cohesive effort. I have no doubt that the following album will be more convincing because the potential is already here, combined with a excellent musicianship. A band to watch that is for sure. www.facebook.com/dormant.ordeal, www.soundcloud.com/dormant_ordeal

Sometimes you get mislead by an album cover, and how musicians may look like on a sleeve of some certain album’s layout. This happened to me just as of lately with this Polish act called DORMANT ORDEAL that sincerely led me to believe they would be some poppish and avantgarde sounding version from OPETH – just basing my very first impression about them by staring at the album cover of "It Pours, It Rains", plus seeing these 4 particular Polish musicians in the very question (who all look like some hard business men; with suits, ties and everything) – being seated in their chairs in the middle of some grass field on the inner layout of the CD sleeve. Well, gladly I just could not have been more wrong about them: DORMANT ORDEAL plays Death Metal that is mostly in common with bands like BEHEMOTH, DEICIDE, IMMOLATION, MALEVOLENT CREATION, MORBID ANGEL (minus the band’s disgraceful last album) and such, having a bit more unorthodox and trickier twist to their Death Metal though. So yeah, on the other hand this is the kind of that ‘meat & potatoes’ type of Death Metal that you have heard so many other times before but then again, not so much. DORMANT ORDEAL, despite at times being guilty of sounding quite a bit like some other known Death Metal bands out there, are at least trying to crush that familiar spine by challenging themselves through the entire album, turning a few riffs somewhat totally upside down and churning out constantly quite unusual yet unexpected tempo changes here and there. And that’s what makes the band’s debut studio album such a fascinating and interesting to listen to. Drummer Radel Kowak also proves to be like a human machine with his amazing drum work on this record, plus vocalist and guitarist Maciej Nieścioruk is a pretty sick sounding fellow I can tell, both vocal and guitar wise. "It Pours, It Rains" is indeed quite an enjoyable Death Metal album, and if they can play their cards right in the future, they necessarily don’t have to release their next album completely on their own, paying all the costs from their own pockets. More about DORMANT ORDEAL can be found at: www.facebook.com/dormant.ordeal, www.soundcloud.com/dormant_ordeal