Our Place of Worship Is Silence

With Inexorable Suffering

BY Brayden TurennePublished Apr 10, 2018

7
There will be an immediate attraction to Our Place of Worship Is Silence for their unflinching, chunk-like heaviness, best reflected in the slow and unapologetically simple dirge opener, "Artificial Purgatory," which virtually drips with testosterone and the blood of enemies. OPOWIS obviously revere the chugging of thousand-pound death metal riffs and worship the primal energy they stir, but rather than rest on those laurels, OPOWIS fuse it with an unorthodox style of songwriting that imbues their caveman brutality with a technical wit that might surprise.
 
"Chronicles Of Annihilation" mimics a twisting maze as it stops and starts frantically, adding a sense of desperation onto the rage, complemented perfectly by the dual vocal attack typical of a cornered, wounded beast. One would be wrong to judge this as simple chest-beating stupidity, as layers of more fastidiously orchestrated instrumentation lurk beneath the surface, demanding your attention, lest it leave you overwhelmed in the dust.
 
But despite the intricacies, OPOWIS reach heights of sonic magnitude that astound and even make you shake your head in wonder. "Labyrinth Disorientation" might be the most accurate representation of momentum put to song, giving credence to that old saying about laying down track with the train at your back.
 
With Inexorable Suffering appeals to simplicity and technicality, though more so to the former than the latter. The band play with a bizarre and particularly spastic style, giving a vitality to an already scathing blast of chewy death metal.
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