Angerot - The Splendid Iniquity

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Hailing from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, ANGEROT is an old-school death metal band that takes as much influence from SweDeath as they do from Satan. Veterans of the scene, you can tell they have put in their time when LG Petrov (ENTOMBED) and James Murphy (DEATH, OBITUARY) are both featured on their debut full length. The members themselves have a lot of history together, Petit and Ferrie going back to 1989, playing in a goregrind band called PUKUS, which soon evolved into the long-term project SUFFER, a band that every member of ANGEROT played in at one time or another. Around 2016, JOSH PETIT decided he wanted to pursue his true passion: '90s Swedish death metal, and thus: ANGEROT was born.

"The Splendid Iniquity" opens with an almost religious sounding intro, "Black Epoch," featuring depressing piano and church bells. They waste no time getting right to the beatdown with an intense groove with heavy emphasis on tremolo picking on "Eternal Unrest," with vocals that resemble those of Glen Benton. The varying speeds of this track introduce the quartets diversity. Going into the title track, things start off slow with a sinister riff, slowly moving closer to an impending assault of crushing grooves, skank beats, a quick solo and a nice pummeling for the finisher.

Reaching the midway point, "Under the Calm" starts with more tremolo picked riffs, drumming featuring multiple stops and cymbal chokes to edge us into the grooviest song on the album, a track in which you can definitely hear the SUFFOCATION influence. "They Wake at Dusk" is very catchy, atmospheric instrumental, featuring acoustic guitars and synthesized stringed instruments and of course a healthy dose of brutality, truly a fitting pit stop to the nearly non-stop assault of this album. "From the Pit to the Apex," with its tremolo picking that heavily emphasizes the trill effect reminds me of all too many DEICIDE songs, and the four-piece pulls it off well with a few time-changes and dissonant grooves. This brutal agenda is furthered in a much slower paced fashion on the following track, "Deliver Us," which features a speedy harmonized solo that keeps things sonically charged. The album closes with the slow-burning "Falia Diaboli," which keeps up with the bands ability to create seriously crushing grooves and transitions that are nearly seamless. The battering quickly evolves with heavy synth and gutturals seething with raw emotion, soon fading out with a tasty groove and marching band like fills.

Overall, this is a very satisfying album if you are drawn to this particular style of death metal and with the varying speeds and sporadic use of synths, it's safe to say they have their merits in terms of originality when it comes to paying homage to SweDeath.

Songwriting: 8
Originality: 7
Memorability: 7
Production: 9