MAZE OF SOTHOTH hail from Italy and play modern Death Metal, meaning, there’s pace, rapid fretwork and lightning quick drumwork. I’ve to admit, I’ve been a fan of technical Death Metal for the longest time and everytime I see something that borders that territory I’m instantly attracted to it to know what’s on offer. “Extirpated Light” is a milkshake of knee-deep vocals and incredible musicianship however the lyrics department surely needs a kick in the rear. I was hoping to find something in this album but from the get-go the band is in a war zone literally attacking everything in sight, so much so that the rhythm passages can be juxtaposed across tracks and you wouldn’t notice. I’m kind of on the fence about this, will I play this regularly, the answer is a no but am I enjoying what I’m listening to? Well, yes and no. I really enjoy how tight the band sounds, the production is phenomenal, and the vocalist suits the message perfectly. The rhythm sections across most of the album is really well done, there are passages that invoke some of the greats such as NILE and fellow countrymen HOUR OF PENANCE. The drumming is a descendant of HATE ETERNAL and to an extent ORIGIN (shoutout to John Longstreth, one of my favourite drummers!). The best part is the band knows exactly when to end a song, something a lot of musicians struggle with. Most of the songs clock in between 3 to 4 minutes which is perfect! So yeah, there’s a lot going on in “Extirpated Light” that you can quite enjoy. On the flipside, half an hour of such rapid fire assault on senses without a way out isn’t necessarily a bad thing. An example is ‘Blasphemous Ritual’, track # 5 on the album. A brilliant start that drowns into a relentless riffage and out of nowhere suddenly comes an uneven MORBID ANGEL’esque solo that disrupts the flow of the song and cuts through the atmosphere with razor sharp precision. MAZE OF SOTHOTH really does these kinds of sections really well, but after you listen to the album on the whole, you realize everything went by so terrifyingly quick that nothing actually registered from a long term perspective. I’ll perhaps think of them when I’m playing similar music, and I’m sure a lot of fans will be delighted with “Extirpated Light”. I’m on the fence due to the aftertaste, but otherwise, the personnel on this record have phenomenal skills that you should definitely check out. For more MAZE OF SOTHOTH information, please visit https://everlastingspewrecords.bandcamp and www.facebook.com/mazeofsothothofficial