Gorephilia - Ascend To Chaos (2011)

Gorephilia are a new death metal band who come from Finland. They formed in 2006 under the name Goretex and released a couple of demos. In early 2007, after kicking out a member of the band, they changed their name to Gorephilia, put out a couple of more demos, which resulted in a deal with Dark Descent Records and this EP was born, which was released in May 2011.

I had seen this EP listed on the label's website as well as other distros, but I kept holding off on buying it for some strange reason. Despite my late arrival to the party, a lot of people in the media, plus general music fans were giving this band such high praise. After seeing it at a distro again, I finally bought it with a bunch of other things and I am glad I did, because this is a monster of an EP.

This band knows how to play heavy and craft songs that leave you coming back for more. You get six songs... Well, four complete songs and two instrumentals, but it is all good and well thought out. Despite being death metal, the songs do have an epic feel and it gets you sucked in. This band knows how to keep the listener interested for its duration. Like with "Tower Of Bones" for instance. Despite being nearly eight minutes long, it doesn't come off as a tedious ordeal as they weave your through an adventure with its haunting structure that when you get to the end, you feel a satisfaction of a journey. While the song "Give Into Madness" offers up one of the most heaviest guitar riffs I heard in 2011 and the song will send you into a realm of which you are likely never to return both musically and lyrically. "Death, Chaos, Doom" is a song that is the perfect soundtrack to such an incident as its heaviness and execution are enough to cause those three things and there is no way to stop it.

From top to bottom, this EP just has it all. Hard pounding drums, thick molting riffs, bass lines that can cause an earthquake and demonic vocals that just add to the horrors of Hell that have been summoned for this release. It leaves a lasting impression. The kind of impression that invokes fear, nightmares and the like. I really think this band has a long bright future ahead and can be a big force to be reckoned with as part of the new elite. When a band like Gorephilia comes along, then you know that death metal still has a long prosperous future ahead.