Krisiun

It takes a mere minute-and-a-half of "Perpetuation," the first song on Krisiun's fourth full-length, to realise that the band is giving modern death metal the swift kick in the ass that it needs. The band elegantly combines crazy, psychotic riffs, which just keep going higher and higher and faster and faster (Morbid Angel meets old Bugs Bunny cartoons?), the most obscenely fast and tricky drumming you'll hear all year and vocals that are only semi-boring, which is the most you can ask for in this genre. No doubt, Brazil's finest have topped the realm of the death metal elite, surpassing heavyweights Cryptopsy and long-time reference point Morbid Angel by creating songs that leave your jaw dropped, body twitching and eyes crossed. The trick? They create songs you can remember, not over-technical freak-out fests. The main complaint here is so painfully obvious that I can't believe that this album was even released as is: the drums sound programmed in. I'm talking Casio keyboard, '80s new wave, '90s black metal, whatever - it sounds like a drum machine and it sounds stupid. However, in the face of pure genius you let things like that slide. Plus, they're scary Satanists who may beat up any naysayers. There will be no extreme metal album this year that will surpass Ageless Venomous.