Review PATHOLOGY ‘The Everlasting Plague’

‘The Everlasting Plague’, an album title that fits so perfectly when thinking about these crazy pandemic times. That was also the thinking of Pathology when working on their eleventh album. Inspired by a song title from their 2012 album ‘The Time of Great Purification’, the band transferred the idea into the here and now.

Pathology’s newest album is massive and if the virus isn’t afraid of these brutal riffs, no cure can help. ‘The Everlasting Plague’ includes twelve songs, all musical bulldozers. With immense power, the band waltz down everything that dares to stand in their way, and it all starts with ‘A Pound of Flesh’.

A creepy intro, that how the song starts before a meat cleaver riff ignites this inferno. Chief growler Obie Flett and massive rhythm section get to work quickly. With all brutality that is weaved into each of the songs the filigree leads prove that Pathology can do more than just hitting the strings hard.

A song that reminds from the general pattern of the opener is ‘As the Entrails Wither’. An acoustic start creates a lot of atmosphere and the moment the heavy riffing kicks in, the song doesn’t shift to full speed right away. There is a moderate part that leads to the destructive power of the middle section with racing guitars and Flett vomiting vocals more than growling.

The gore fueled death metal, penned by Pathology, isn’t music for ears that ask for a gentle sound. It is rather the opposite. Although equipped with some finesse it is the sheer brutality of furious metal that is in focus on this album. Songs like the fast-paced ‘Viciously Defiled’ and the heavy pounding ‘Death Ritual Deciphered’ are reflecting death metal the oldschool way. ‘The Everlasting Plague’ is a massive longplayer and as mentioned in the beginning, if the virus doesn’t fall into pieces when being confronted with these twelve smashing songs, then we will face truly an everlasting plague, at least while listening to cool music.