ALBUM REVIEW: Iridium – Cerebrum

Despite flying under the radar for quite some time, Greek death metal stalwarts CEREBRUM deserve more attention than they garner. Yes, death metal is very much a genre at home in the underground, but with new album Iridium the quartet add a ribbon of quality to their banner.

If you’re one of the many that will be unfamiliar with the tropes of CEREBRUM; expect a mammoth cascade of riff after riff. These Greeks make little attempt to deviate away from an all out crunching sound. Straight from the kick off of album opener Time Reversal you get a sense you’re in for a tumultuous ride here.

The quartet often play with the nuances of death metal to great effect, and there’s some exquisite musicianship on show throughout. The double punch of Astral Oblivion and Absorbed In Greed come with equal parts fury and technical excellence. Relenting blast beats and thrashing speed metal riffs make the two sound like an unstoppable concourse of jabs to the jaw – death metal loyalists will feel at home here.

Memory Hoax and Gods In Trance very much stick to this patented style too. And in a nutshell Iridium is rarely anything other than your classic death record with the welcome addition of some flamboyant guitar lines. With Memory Hoax in particular offering refuge to some wonderfully dexterous fret work from Jim Touras and Mike Papadopoulous.

There are times when Iridium sounds like it was recorded in a cardboard box, and in some ways that’s too its credit, some of the drum fills on Euphoric Control sound like they’re being played behind you. This intimacy may come across as a major positive on the surface but this can become relatively tiresome towards the back end of the record. If there was ever an album that sounded a little too raw – Iridium is it.

CEREBRUM can look at this album as a more than competent effort to keep up with current happenings in the genre. The proverbial death metal checklist is ticked off, all while offering some of the most complex fretwork you’ll have heard this year. Iridium is a tight, rough, visceral death metal record with absolutely no room for manoeuvre.

Rating: 7/10

Iridium is due for release December 21st via Transcending Obscurity Records. 

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