Review by Alex on November 5, 2018.

For a debut outing this isn’t bad at all, and to be fair, I’ve never been disappointed by a Finnish metal band apart from a mainstream one for releasing that abominable 2015 record. Thus said Ratbreed deliver the good tunes on here from start to end.

With Evoke the Blaze, Ratbreed brings a mixture of melodies and tempo changes all the while rocking fun guitar solos. The songs have a very empowering feeling to them from the first track to the last, you get the sense you can overcome any obstacle confronted by in life. Yes, it does have a progressive feeling too, thanks to the vocalist’s voice that helps to evoke a confident state of mind and an optimistic perspective. However there are some songs that deal with pessimistic thoughts and feelings of regressive behavior. ”Decay of the Mind” is the best song on the record and encapsulates this negative feeling I am speaking of, but the way it is structured gives the listener a feeling of fighting back or trying to repel the negativity. I admire this blend of pessimism and optimism on the record. It’s not all fantasy driven or ‘devour and conquer’ as usually portrayed in traditional heavy metal; no, Ratbreed uses various tempo changes and riff patterns to highlight other unseen factors that many encounter. 

Evoke the Blaze has an aplomb flow; Ratbreed does not fall victim of adding too much, they keep things simple and sensible. As you progress further towards the end of the record you start to realize that the A side is much stronger than the B side. Tracks are more memorable and catchy on the A side, not saying the B side isn’t good; the are fewer songs that stand out in the listeners ear, in comparison to side A. For instance on “Through the Flames”, the guitarist gives his best solo of the album that feels more in tune with the primary rhythm of the song and even brings to light a bit of technical skill; mixing such attributes often lead to memorability. Though various tones and moods are present on the record, as a whole Evoke the Blaze possesses a comforting and controlled feeling, perhaps this has come to be due to the pacing of the music, which mostly lies within the middle range. The vocalist does sound aggressive but not to the excessively rowdy point of negatively impacting her vocals. You can still hear the harmony in her voice even though the passion is very much audible. 

All together Evoke the Blaze is a fun listening experience. Also Ratbreed’s cover of Warlock’s “I Rule the Ruins” is a fantastic and well executed attempt at paying homage to one of the legendary traditional heavy metal bands; I’m sure Warlock would feel exalted once having heard it. Ratbreed took the song and nurtured it as if their own.

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Review by Rosh on March 30, 2022.

It really astounds me just how long the modern wave of old school death metal has been pumping out releases, rooted in one or more of the sounds the original movement had to offer in the late 80's and early 90's. We've seen so many bands get the spotlight for about one year, every year, that even going back more than 5 years feels kind of archaic at this point. Nonetheless, the movement did get plenty of attention much earlier than this arbitrary, retroactively-applied cut-off point, and looking back, a lot of the essential works that really do something worthwhile with old school sounds are from the earlier 2010's and maybe a little before. I think the movement really took a nosedive by about 2019, and now it's so rehashed that it has to be taken in a strange, more gimmicky direction with Maggot Stomp bands and the like.

Sabbatory's Endless Asphyxiating Gloom, though, is one of the albums from the aforementioned earlier modern OSDM era that's stuck with me, and I often come back to it when in need of a quick, freakish fix. I guess albums like this are one reason I didn't really ever grow completely tired of the movement despite knowing it was overdone; I only ever came back to my favorite 40 or so releases instead of gorging myself on every caverndeath copycat for very long. The cavernous approach, however, this Manitoba unit do not use. Their sound itself is more similar to the early Florida and Netherlands output, as well as Germany's heavily underrated Morgoth, with vocals of a similar register to genre mainstays like Schuldiner, Tardy, Van Drunen, and Marc Grewe. While the raspier wails pioneered by those frontmen may bring to mind a death metal approach still punctuated by thrash elements, the overtone across the seven tracks here feels decidedly oppressive, suffocating, and downcast, in a manner removed from even death/thrash.

The guitar tone is punchy and sharp, but not in an even remotely cheerful manner, rather conveying a hopeless desperation. Furthermore, the riffs themselves would suit even the heaviest OSDM bands, if slowed by about 10 BPM and played with higher gain. I think this is a possible parallel not only to the Incantation-influenced crowd, but also some Scandinavian classics. There's that sense of being on a perpetual, mentally torturous voyage that leads to unfathomable dehumanization - a vibe I always got from Excruciate's uniquely dark "Passage Of Life" album. Although songs like the opener, 'Being, Thy Eternal Perplexor' do go for the attack right off the bat, and 'Corrosive Decay' and 'Infantasy' let loose some infectiously catchy death metal sensibilities, the last three songs on this album head for bleaker territory. The unsettling atmosphere becomes slightly more prevalent here at the end, which leaves a tormented aftertaste for the listener.

The reason Sabbatory's sole album succeeds is ultimately because it's got a tangible "mood" to it, feeling cohesive enough to come off as a sincere effort with thought put into it. This is also one reason why many classic death metal albums have stuck with us over the years, whereas a lot of their imitators fail to be memorable. Composing and performing death metal by the numbers is inherently a very bad idea, and will never yield an album with an overarching feel or theme to it. Instead, look for that spark of emotional inspiration that benefits extreme music - you will find it not only on the classics, but also on solid modern efforts like Endless Asphyxiating Gloom.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10