SIN OF GOD - HUNGARY

SIN OF GOD - BLOOD BOUND - EXITUS STRATAGEM  
It is the sound of a machine gun that immediately kick-starts the album and it comes at you courtesy of all four musicians. It is instantly clear: Blood Bound is brutal, crushing black/death metal with no hint of mercy. The singer Tamás Schupkégel deploys two tones and uses two channels to disseminate his preachy and ominous augury. The guitar is sharp. The warm drum sound and the barrage of artillery that goes boom is probably the album's highlight. The drummer loves his drum rolls and his blast beats and more power to him. The crackling bass is the aspect that is not to love as it has neither a powerful presence nor a warm funky tone. In fact, the bass sounds more like a mouth harp. The quartet may be even better live, however, because the studio bassist was Michele Gawen Augello, while another man, Krisztián Páncél, serves on the live stage. Having said that, the bass is not bad per se.
Black Waves ends on a note with a reverb. No Return sounds like two machine guns are spraying each other. The vocals get some studio effects especially on The Unbelief. The song, incidentally, is one that is missing in riffs and where the band seems out of ideas. It is more of a joy for the blast beat speeds and heaviness' sake. Diabolical Agitation goes into a weird interlude. Cerebral Malfunction is just fun to hear. The drummer maintains his explosive tempo even when the rest of the band slows down. The hyperspeeds are prevalent and the album is all the better for it of course, but the band shifts down to mid-pace a couple of times at least. Still, Blood Bound is blessed with an absolute lack of poseur elements and remains bereft of non-metal or non-brutal elements from start to finish.
The record should have been a rare 80/100 for Metallian, but it becomes more of a 75 given that two songs seem thin on ideas and the bass sound is a miss. Heck, they even have a song about Trump/Orban voters to end the album with. Call yourself a fan of Aeon, Cryptopsy, God Among Insects or Pestilence? Exitus Stratagem has a CD for you! No wonder the cover art depicts a symphonic (so-called) 'metal' chick singer and her wimpy accolades. They are being assailed by Sin Of God and their actual metallic and symphonic music. - Ali "The Metallian"