This is one of the better Death Metal album since, well, “Clandestine”. The sound is very reminiscent of the good old Swedish Way Of Death Metal. Even the vocals are somewhat reminiscent to Nicke’s on the mentioned album. And mind you, this is not a drawback because such vocals do certainly fit into the brutality of “Star Condemn’d”. This album is brutal, but it has its moments of surprises. I was really caught off guard when I heard the second track, curiously named “Earth”. After 1.15 minutes some nice keyboards set in and make the whole a bit lightly. Then, just as we clock in at two minutes EARTH uses the technique few other bands do and give us riffs that we could kill for. So fucking heavy for almost one minute before they let us relax with some keyboards once again. I mean, listen to the heavy guitars. They’re heavy produced and kick my stomach like a semi-trailer hitting me. Fantastic. Even though the best riff of the album is already a part of the second track, the album is as a whole worth your well-earned dollars. Great riffs are followed by other great riffs. The songs are varied and make this better than most Death Metal albums. You know, straightforward Death Metal is quite boring most of the time. EARTH has dared to use the keyboard quite a lot, and somehow I feel they draw inspiration from such major bands as early Edge Of Sanity, Afflicted and Entombed. However, this album is not perfect. I think they should’ve cared more about the emotions the keyboards create. Like in the title track the tunes are too light. It’s nice to hum to the melody lines, but I think it should be darker in order to maintain the sheer brutality. But this is only a minor point since this album as a whole is super Death Metal done the way I thought was forgotten. A cover track is included, though it doesn’t appear with a name nor number. Let me just say that it is a Black Sabbath track as far as I’m concerned (c’mon Roy, don’t tell me you didn’t recognize ‘Children Of The Grave’???? – Frank). Write to: EARTH, 610 Fullarot Rd., Keilor Par. Vic, Australia 3042. Label website: www.ironfistrec.cjb.net