Review: “Unearthly Will” by Augurium

It has been five long years since the last known confession of Canadian Death Metal beast Augurium, the band imploding in 2019 only to return in 2023 with original guitarist duo Cejay Carnochan and Logan Barlow at the helm. They’re joined by an unholy trinity of new musicians in bassist Reid Paraszczynec (Wasted Heretics), drummer Taylor McDonald (Ascension Method, Death Machine, Disgustulent) and vocalist Yianni Pantelopoulos (ex-Scythra, ex-FPG) in confirming that death is only the beginning. The retooled outfit have created a new album mixed and mastered in house by Paraszczynec as they look to continue where they left off with 2018’s “Unhallowed Ascendance“…

Orchestration chemically enhances the brutality of “Inquisition of the Possessed” as new vocalist Pantelopoulos proves why he is a worthy successor to Tayler Keller, his beastly death growls the trawling of the boiling oceans of the bowels of Hell itself. What the band have conjured is something that sounds like it has roots in early Winds Of Plague territory without the breakdowns, the swirling darkness drawing you in like the tales of horror in a Stephen King novel. Refined in fires of eternal Hell, Augurium have found an intriguing new maturity with “Phantom Parallax“, a truly brutal offering that finds McDonald delivering the kind of percussive battery which will have Decapitated calling should they ever need a replacement sticksman. There is solo from Barlow that begs to be extended, dying off far too soon while the bass from Paraszczynec has been allowed to bleed into the mix as the sea beast rises from the black depths in stunning fashion. “Sanguine” then confirms the threat warning is very real as a powerhouse cut frontloaded with blast beats and driving riffs all wrapped in ethereal orchestration, the breakdown section enough to smash the teeth out of even the most hardened of Metal Heads. Soaked in melancholia, the fires of “Ancient Grimoire” burn brightly with cinematic tinged moments, a fleeting clean vocal line swirling within the vortex of the savage uncleans to add a depth and texture to the centre of the abomination. Monstrously powerful, resistance is utterly futile.

The second half of the record begins with “Inceptus Mysteria” which takes things lower and slower with down turned riffs and staccato moments, the odd time signatures in the drumming adding another dimension to the brutality before another warm solo with Progressive Death Metal leanings becomes the Chef’s Kiss moment of the album. Turning up the head for a skull battering finale, the stage is set for a bombastic title track and Augurium don’t disappoint. “Unearthly Will” keeps things short but oh so sickeningly sweet with driving riffs and pummelling kit work beating the cerebral cortex into submission. One that could easily be extended by another few minutes without outstaying its welcome, it feels like the band have found what they need to ascend gracefully to a new realm. “As Above… So Below” continues the searing heat, building an oppressive darkness with swirling symphonics, the stomp of the breakdown section in the final third a skull crusher before breaking out with a Scott Carstairs style solo of divine proportions. That bleeds into “Invictus” as if they are one, conjoined twins never to be separated. As a cut its another that begs and bleeds to be extended by a meandering Progressive Death Metal instrumental passage but instead is curtailed in favour of a false ending before a Gollum like dry throated acapella that reduces everything to rubble… [7.5/10]

Track Listing

1. Inquisition of the Possessed
2. Phantom Parallax
3. Sanguine
4. Ancient Grimoire
5. Inceptus Mysteria
6. Unearthly Will
7. As Above… So Below
8. Invictus

“Unearthly Will” by Augurium is out 25th August 2023 with pre-orders available over at bandcamp