ALBUM REVIEW: The Surreption II – Ingested
10 years ago, British death metal legends INGESTED released their second full-length album, The Surreption. The album, alongside the ones that were unleashed after, paved a way for the band to rise up the ranks and establish their name as one of the most recognised, and dynamic bands in death metal. Now, as the band have claimed their spot in the scene, they’ve revisited the album, not just in a remaster, but a complete remaster. The Surreption II will see just how much the band have refined their sound in the last decade.
From the off, the production of the album is on another level compared to its first run. Whilst The Surreption felt meaty back in 2011, the game has changed since then and things have gotten heavier. In comparison, tracks such as opener Crowing The Abomination, Decline and Castigation and Rebirth sound like empty tin cans when you put them next to their 2021 versions.
It should also be noted in how the skills of the band have expanded further. They have always been top due to their constant push for doing something that makes death metal exciting, hence why The Surreption is such a cherished album, but II is on another level. It’s easy to tell that the past decade of experience and record making has taught INGESTED a thing or two about how to grasp not just the technical elements of the sound but the force the songs need playing with. They’re a little less ‘perfected’ than their predecessors – and somehow it’s made it 10x bolder.
When you’re releasing your second studio album, there is understandably a pressure on bands to do better than their debut, show that they’re not a one trick pony. Often that can lead to feeling a little robotic and detached, but here, with tracks such as This Disgusting Revelation and Manifesting Obscenity, you can hear that there is more focus on having fun and delivering something that they genuinely love, as opposed to getting it perfect.
The Surreption II is obviously nothing new, the tracks have all been heard before, but it feels like the first round of listening to them again, that excitement of hearing something so obliterating and heavy. There’s a spark in the album that shows just how much the band have grown individually and together, that dynamic of a stronger bond than ever before has made this even more special. INGESTED have done nothing short of showing the world of death metal why they’ve climbed the ladder with some of the best – sometimes it goes underappreciated as to how much a band has developed over time, this won’t be the case for them.
Rating: 8/10
The Surreption II is out now via Unique Leader Records.
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