LAHMIA - Into The Abyss

This, if I am not mistaken is the first album of the Italians, and certainly is an album that will draw the attention of plenty of fans around. Being able to combine all their influences into a style that doesn't lack on cliches but never stops to be interesting, this band created an album that can be called a successful debut. With influences from the extreme, moving from Thrash to US Death and Black, the band has mixed all those to their music, while keeping all the strong points of each style. Diversity and complexity are the two things that come in mind right from the first song, and the band has done a perfect job, preventing the songs from becoming boring or repetitive. Extreme vocals give their place to melodic paths, and clear singing leads to blastbeating, but everything is happening in a very natural way, so the listener will find this transition easy. Musicwise the band is very good, starting with the vocalist who is doing a perfect work, either growling or singing with more clear vocals. The rhythm section is tight enough, managing to deliver with the same quality in all the styles that the band explores, while the melodies and riffs from the guitars are sometimes close to perfection. If you don't mind those cliches and influences mentioned before, the band has also done a very good work in the composing area, with enough nice ideas explored through their music. It's catchy and full of energy, complex and mind-intriguing at times, always well performed, and often enough the melodies bring in mind bands mostly from the Swedish Death scene. But this doesn't mean in any way that this is not an enjoyable debut, from a band that has enough to offer.

8/10