Poland-based Old Temple have a fine-tuned nose for everything that reeks of nastiness. That was one of the reasons to join forces with Embrional a while ago, the latter being a band that was formed more than a decade ago (initially as Embrional Necrophilism, by the way). This act released a first full length in 2012 (Absolutely Anti-Human Behaviors, once again via Old Temple), which received great response all over our metalized globe. Undersigned too was modestly enthusiastic about that effort. Still being the outfit of Marcin (g, v), Kamil (d) and Rychu (g), Embrional recorded this new full length with assistance of session bass player Krzysztof Michalak, whom you might know from the likes of Darzamat or Infernal War. The recordings took place at the famous Sound Division Studio, and once again both mix and mastering were done in early 2014 by no one else but Arek Malczewski – think Moon, Vesania, Devilyn, Behemoth, Azarath and many more.
The Devil Inside truly is one of the most ugly pieces I was able to experience lately. The introduction, for example (the title track), stands for some kind of frenzy, schizophrenic Noise-assault, but things turn even nastier as soon as the band starts off with their hyper-blasting, ultra-technical and totally-merciless Death Metal War. It’s devastating yet highly sophisticated, yet still with such grandeur and craftsmanship in its execution. This is one of those bands that knows how to combine blaspheme and schizoid Tech-Death with quite some atmosphere, variation and identity. The speed changes whole the time, with especially lightning fast to blasting fast eruptions going on (the rolling drum patterns for sure strengthen that attitude), but even throughout the totally slowed-down moments, Embrional are heavy-as-f***! The band’s little progressive touch of technical craftwork too is memorable in case you can appreciate a certain Americanized point of view (though the Polish scene, and so are the Italian, German, Finnish and Czech ones too, amongst several others, might come to mind too very easily). But even the semi-acoustic excerpts
A first personal remark (and as a reviewer I have to admit that I cannot always ignore a certain subjective belly-feeling) is that I would have preferred more intensity and variation within the vocal parts, and a more brutal bass sound (in a track like In Darkness the bass lines almost sound funky, and I do not think it was meant to be that way). But at the other hand, I am pretty sure fans of Deadened Thrash (hey, what about Whores, Drugs And Brain Dead?) and Black Metal might find some greatness too on The Devil Inside.
A second -once again very subjective yet not unimportant- remark is this: the production. I think the result could have been more obscure with a certain less-is-more-result. It’s not that this album sounds surgically precise. No, I am glad to detect a certain roughness. But you know, I prefer my meat little raw and bloody at the inside, forcefully peppered and subtly scorched at the outside, and that’s what I do miss right here.
I think it’s not that weird to compare this material to some otherworldly bastard child of Vader and Morbid Angel…