Nearly seven years after their previous full-length, Polish extreme Metal veterans NEOLITH returned with their sixth full-length “Inbir”. The band, featuring vocalist Levi, guitarists Conrad and Zi’aR, bassist Kriss and drummer Semuss, has this time intended to bridge their early Death Doom roots with an aggressive blend of Death and Black Metal. With a runtime of nearly forty minutes, the album’s title stems from the ancient Sumerian word for ‘war’ setting a thematic direction that explores mythology, power, mystery, spirituality and the fate of man. Musically, this record comes with eight tracks and hits instantly with the opening title track and the next one, ‘The Dawn Is Waking’, showcasing intensity filled aggression with intriguing shifting of tempos along with bursts of blast beats. Reminiscent of the early style of MORBID ANGEL, those deadly riffs here should entice heads and without giving any respite, ‘Of All the Gods’ comes up with malignant energy, which should appeal to Black Metal fans with its frenetic riffing and haunting atmosphere it creates. ‘Ashur Has Given Me a Brother’ is decisively the strongest track here and shows off their potency in songwriting. It gives away a compact Death Metal experience with the signature stomps and chops reminiscent of MORBID ANGEL and DEAD CONGREGATION. The drums were forged with great care which propels the brutality further, with its raw and organic sounding output, something that will lure to listen on repeat. Conrad’s frequent chromatic solos and varied leads feel like shifting between SLAYER infused classic shredding and melodic runs. These surely added to the chaotic and violent atmosphere in tracks like ‘Morte’. Produced by the band alongside Haldor Grunberg at Satanic Audio, the record carries a massive and dive bomb like powerful production. Nonetheless the gravelly bass tone occasionally gets buried in the mix. Also, in terms of vocal output, although Levi’s blood curdling snarls and monster like deliveries reigns across the record, yet they sound somewhat one dimensional which can lessen the memorability through the full runtime. Still, these will not drastically hinder the release’s enjoyability or from experiencing the inward madness it beholds, as fantastically visualized in the cover artwork created by Polish artist Artur Szolc. Those looking for a hostile trip into the war torn time immemorial, “Inbir” has it inside to deliver that and should further spread the growing force of NEOLITH. To find out more about the band and label please visit www.facebook.com/neolith or www.facebook.com/deformeathing