ALBUM REVIEW: Pyres – Pestilent Reign
Formed in 2013, Southern Germany’s PESTILENT REIGN have spent the last half-decade honing their craft, taking influence from genre heavyweights like DYING FETUS, DYSCARNATE and ABORTED, while releasing two EPs in 2015 and 2016 – Shivering Chaos and The Zealot, respectively. This year, the quartet are set to deliver their debut full-length, Pyres, in hopes of taking the death metal world by storm.
PESTILENT REIGN‘s particular brand of death metal is evidently heavily influenced by DYING FETUS – this is clear from the similarities in the riffs, where focus is on crushing heaviness and groove, and the guttural, grunt like vocals. Though a comparison between the two is obvious from even a cursory listen to Pyres, PESTILENT REIGN are not just a carbon copy. The quartet inject a hint of thrashy technicality in the lead guitar work in the vein of PSYCROPTIC, while spicing up the sound with occasional blasts of frostbitten, black metal riffs.
An immediate disappointment with Pyres is the track list – the album is eight songs long, with only three new tracks, the rest having been previously released on PESTILENT REIGN‘s EPs. On the one hand, when comparing the original recordings with the album version, it is certainly great to hear the songs be a bit more refined, and better produced, however the lack of new material present on the debut album feels lazy and gives the song-writing across the whole record an inconsistent feel. Songs like You Will Kneel In Piss and Blood, Ouroboros and I.M.T.R.M greatly drag down the overall quality of the album, and would have been best left on the previously released EPs, with new songs taking their place on Pyres.
That being said, two of the recycled songs do, in fact, sound surprisingly great, and more in line with the newer material. Cleanse The Flesh is a short, crushing beast that brilliant matches the brutality of PESTILENT REIGN‘s style with hooky melodies and grooves, while a redone version of Zealot sees the band really come into their own in terms of song-writing ability and exciting execution.
Doubtlessly, it is the new songs that stand head and shoulders above the rest of Pyres. Both opening track Martyr and Saviour allow all of the competing influences in PESTILENT REIGN‘s sound to come together in a much more cohesive, original fashion. While the DYING FETUS influence is still obvious, the quartet’s injection of melody and hints of a blackened atmosphere really gives an originality to the music that was missing on the previous releases. The real winner here, however, is the closing song – Gutter’s Filth. With this track, the listener stops hearing the influence of other bands shine through the music, and starts hearing what PESTILENT REIGN are really capable of. The grooves are complimented by a hint of a southern rock swagger and techy melodies, while the bulk of the riffing carry supper sinister, evil, blackened death metal vibe.
Pyres is certainly an enjoyable listen, but the debut leaves plenty of room for improvement and further development. Though the iconic DYING FETUS-esque groove is clearly a heavy influence on PESTILENT REIGN, the band are at their best when allowing their own personality to shine through in the music, rather than emulating their idols. The quartet will really need to up their game and craft some stellar new material for the next release, as rehashing old songs are not going to cut it. That said, the band show promise with the new songs bringing quite an exciting sound into play, and if they focus on further developing this style they could be onto a winner.
Rating: 6/10
Pyres is out now via Rising Nemesis Records and Rebirth the Metal Productions.
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