ANCIENT ENTITIES
ANCIENT ENTITIES “Echoes of Annihilation”
By Dr. Abner Mality
It was about six months ago when I started hearing rumblings about this Milwaukee death squad. Then I saw them blow the bar stage apart at Milwaukee Metalfest 2024 and that sealed the deal for me. Shortly afterwards, I was lucky enough to get my skull fractured by this, their debut.
New death metal bands are popping out of the woodwork like cicadas these days, but these guys are for real. This could have come from the glory days of the early 90’s, yet it doesn’t come across like a nostalgia trip. These guys just do gonzo oldschool DM the way it’s meant to be done...with no fuckin’ remorse and an avalanche of riffs! Aggression is up there with NILE, MALEVOLENT CREATION and early VADER. Many of the tracks have a thrash-like structure to them, but they throw in lots of down-tuned chunk and squealing pinch harmonics, along with screaming guitar solos and a vocalist who could give any established grumbler a run for his money. One great thing about ANCIENT ENTITIES is that they cut things to the bone...no dragged out intros, jazz-bo explorations or songs long enough to have your tires switched out and still not be done. Just pure intensity.
All the songs are good, even the intro, but special favorites for me would be “Creatures From the Sand”, “Ritual Autopsy” and “Hidden”, which seem especially well-written. Of course the lack of innovation is always there, but it’s not such a big deal with these guys. I can’t conceive of any hardcore death metal fan not digging the hell out of “Echoes of Annihilation”.