Embryonic Devourment – Heresy of the Highest Order
Release Date: 25th February 2022
Label: Unique Leader Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Brutal Death Metal, Technical Death Metal.
FFO: Cattle Decapitation, Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Gorguts, Cephalic Carnage, Death, Dying Fetus.
Review By: Eric Wilt
Although Heresy of the Highest Order is their Unique Leader debut, Embryonic Devourment has been churning out shredtastic brutal death metal since 2003. Joining bassist and vocalist Austin Spence and drummer Luke Boutiette on their fourth full-length, is guitarist Donnie Small. Together they proceed to melt the listener’s face with their dexterous riffing while channeling the thoughts of reptile people.
Like the schizophrenic lovechild of Death and Cephalic Carnage, Embryonic Devourment brings the heavy and the weird. And, when I say weird, I’m not just referring to the fact that the cover artwork and lyrical themes are influenced by the writing of David Icke who theorizes that reptilian beings inhabit the earth and must drink stem cell-rich menstrual blood to take and remain in the form of human beings. No, I’m also referring to the music itself, which incorporates a number of styles and tempos in what is undoubtedly one of the most unique albums you will hear in 2022.
Unable or unwilling to settle into any one subgenre of death metal, Embryonic Devourment run the gamut from technical to dissonant metal, from grindcore to shred, and that’s just the first song. And just when you think the band surely has used up all of their ideas on the first track, you listen to track two, the title track, and realize that Heresy of the Highest Order suffers from neither a shortage of riffs nor stylistic shifts.
From the straight-ahead death metal and proggy riffing of the aforementioned title track to the technical death metal clinic that is “High Clearance Code Access,” Embryonic Devourment will never leave you bored. It “Began with the Lizards” begins with a spoken word intro over some Yngview-inspired shredding and then pummels you with some brutal and technical riffing à la Dying Fetus.
Although all of the songs are good, “Murder of the Ancients” is the one time in which Embryonic Devourment pushes the listener to their limit. There is a dissonance that is enjoyable even though it is challenging. The lead track, “Kathy O’Brian” is an example of this. On the other hand, there is a dissonance that is simply challenging and not necessarily enjoyable, and the trio find this point at the beginning of “Murder of the Ancients” when they play a few parts that sound gratingly out of tune. They more than make up for this as the song settles into a Cryptopsy-style section that is capped with a blazing solo near the half-way point before slowing things down and then sending the song home on a flurry of technical riffage. Overall, Heresy of the Highest Order is a fun listen that will never run the risk of leaving the listener bored. And, while lyrics written from the view point of reptile beings hiding out on earth might not be your thing, you are sure to find something within these eight tracks that is.
(4 / 5)
