Baltimore, Maryland’s Death Metal elders DYING FETUS have returned after six years to crank out their latest slab of pure Death Metal brutality. The guys have been gatekeepers for their career and continue in their relentless path of destruction. Ten tracks sure to initiate bashing heads with a spiked baseball bat. The last DYING FETUS album I checked out was 2012’s much acclaimed “Reign Supreme” and I jumped at the chance to check out this new material. Let’s dive into this gem and see if the band has kept the same formula that has worked for them for 30+years. Kicking things off is ‘Enlighten Through Agony’, setting the tone for what the other nine tracks will bring to the table. As previously mentioned, the band knows how to bring the brutality and they do it with pride. Consistently devastating ears with thunderous drums, razor sharp chugging guitars and crazy guttural vocals, these guys don’t skip a beat. ‘Feast Of Ashes’ has some sick guitar solos that remind me of DEATH, the shear bulldozing beat of that song just warrants a heavy pit session. My favorite track on this album was ‘Subterfuge’, the song just rips (a close second is ‘When The Trend Ends’). The drums are just on display here with full intensity. A textbook drumming workshop was unleashed here with the guitars clear cutting the path. Additional tracks on here that caught my attention were ‘Hero’s Grave’, ‘Compulsion For Cruelty’ (great jam) and ‘Unbridled Fury’. Those three tracks, in my opinion, brought something different to the mix while maintaining consistency. The overall production on this album was very polished and provided an even balance of sound from all instruments and vocals. It did not feel that any one instrument drowned out the rest. Pure musical insanity with a hint of melody is the best way I can describe this album, so in other words, the band has kept the formula while tweaking it here and there. Thoroughly I enjoyed this album, it brought back memories of crushing it in the pit with my buddies (especially my buddy Ray) checking out FETUS jam on the stages of Austin and San Antonio, Texas in the late ’90s / 2000s. Ahh to be young again. If you have been a fan of DYING FETUS you will not be disappointed, if you have yet to hear them then this would be a good album to start with (but definitely check out “Purification…”, “Killing On Adrenaline” and “Destroy The Opposition”). For more information, check out www.facebook.com/dyingfetus or www.facebook.com/relapserecords