Petrification – Hollow of the Void
Band: Petrification
Title: Hollow of the Void
Label: Sentient Ruin Laboratories
Release Date: April 23, 2018
Country: United States
Format Reviewed: Vinyl TTD052
Something quite Evil is lurking in the Pacific NorthWest woods as Portland has become another sanctuary for extreme metal! Petrification released the “Summon Horrendous Destruction” EP in early 2017 and along with several of those tracks and a half a dozen others Petrification’s debut release “Hollow of the Void” has arrived!
As a purveyor of OSDM (Just means one’s getting Older!)the immediate thoughts of early Bolt Thrower and Morbid Angel quickly fill ones mind as soon as Prelude (What are those sounds?) ends and opener Arachne Exsanguine begins to pummel your senses with it’s immediate and punishing delivery! So reminiscent to the 80’s Death Metal scene, even the fantastic old school cover art grabs the listeners attention by the throat. Perhaps taking influence from bands such as Convulse with their hardcore-punk-metal attributes and unique lyrics, as well as embodying the pure essence of underground Death Metal like the timeless Sadistic Intent whom they’ll share a stage with come November! There are a ton of bands trying to deliver Death Metal to the masses right now, but Petrification with their unnatural sounds, furious dualing guitars and dull but heavy as hell sounds coming from behind the kit are all blended with the exhaustive screams delivered impressively from Jason Barnett…this combination seem to separate Petrification from the pack while taking the listener straight to the dark underground catacombs from which it was birthed!
Arachne Exsanguine kicks things off and may only come in at 2:59, but the tracks brutality and repulsiveness is just drenched in malevolence! Other favorites like Summon Horrendous Destruction and Stagnation of Transmigration deliver gruesome, putrid and neck-breaking Death Metal riffs that will make the likes of Autopsy and Grave quite proud.
In the end “Hollow of the Void” is not a perfect recording by any means and although Prelude, Interlude and Conclusion add to the essence of decay throughout, they are three of the eleven tracks, and as I mentioned several of these tracks debuted on their initial EP. Thus we only really get to see Petrification releasing a minimal amount of new material? Saying all of that my opinion of the band and “Hollow of the Void” remains quite high as from start to finish this is one excellent Death Metal release! Whether you’re an OSDM Worshiper or have been entrenched in all of the outstanding newer bands and releases from the last few years, you are in for a brutal time! 8/10 Mö
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