Review by Carl on November 6, 2026.

Although the cover art might give that impression, these guys sound not a whole lot like Nile. Orategod is a far speedier and decidedly less atmospheric entity than those well-known ancient Egypt fetishists, being more akin to high-speed death metal merchants such as Centurian, Deranged, Severe Torture, Rebaelliun, old Kataklysm, and Abhorrence (BRA). This is not for the faint-hearted out there, I'll tell you that. But is it any good? Time to find out!

This is quite the barrage that is being served up. Busy riff structures and guitar patterns are executed in chainsaw tremolo fashion, with some great dive-bomb leads being included as well, all brutally being underpinned by a drummer whose joints and muscles seem to be primarily stuck on 'jackhammer' setting, allowing only minute moments of reprieve for the listener to catch a short breath. This sonic bludgeoning is rounded out by a growling vocalist who sounds truly animalistic in his performance, seemingly barking his way through the metallic onslaught. The tracks themselves are kept short and concise, while brimming with high-speed delivery both guitar- and percussion-wise, dealing out massive amounts of grinding aggression and frenetic energy. There's a lot going on at once, and while I certainly would not call this technical death metal, the extremity on offer can make everything feel kinda overwhelming upon the first few spins of this album.

So it's probably a good thing that the bulk of the production is on the above decent side of things. Almost, that is, because while the guitars sound like chainsaws ripping through sheet metal, the bass comes viciously plucking through the music, and the vocals have a pretty menacing edge going, the percussion sounds horrendous. The drums on With Love From Sinister received this awful compressed sound to them, coming across as mechanical and soggy, even to the point that at times they give the impression of becoming detached from the guitars and vocals. It's in these moments that the music's consistency starts to fall apart somewhat, becoming messy and unfocused. It also does not help that this approach unintentionally highlights the fact that the drummer struggles to keep up with the unrelenting velocity here and there, so I think it's pretty safe to say that a more subtle approach to the drums would've certainly helped here.

Seen in its totality, this is still a pretty banging release though, crappy drums sound be damned. These guys know what they are about, and they certainly deliver it in style. Upon its first listen, this album will no doubt feel like the sonic equivalent of a container of bricks being dumped on your head, and it will only be after repeated spins that this little platter will have everything falling into place, or at least most of it will. The savage energy and relentless hammering aggression is there from the start, but if you want to get deeper into what Orategod has to offer, you will have to put in some time and effort. I know I had to, so just believe me on this.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10