#Languish 🇺🇸 Feeding The Flames Of Annihilation

Band: Languish
Title: Feeding The Flames Of Annihilation
Label: Prosthetic Records
Release Date: 7 October 2022
Country: USA
Format Reviewed: Digital Download

On their third album, Feeding The Flames Of AnnihilationI, Tucson, Arizona’s extreme metal outfit Languish does exactly what it says on the tin, delivering 11 pulverizing, apocalyptic explosions of death in metal form.

Opening the album with a bang, the brief “Manifesto” launches straight in like a 100mph jaw bone to the face. There’s a death n’ roll feel to the drumming, with the whole thing in the mould of Heads For The Dead. A short, sharp shock, letting you know what’s up.

By the third track “Ripped Remains”, the formula is pretty clear: busy, powerful drums, confidently knocking out death metal and grindcore rhythms, thick, dirty, chugging guitars with gruesome vocals that alternate between strangled, gnarled vomiting and deep toad rumbles.

For an album that locks into a very specific sound and sticks to it, Feeding The Flames Of Annihilation is a surprisingly varied little beast and at just over 26 minutes in total length and the tracks ranging between just over a minute to just above three, nothing overstays its welcome.

That the band took the opportunity to really craft the album shows in the way that every track has its own unique details. “Parasite” has a great recurring riff, with a weird feel to the rhythm, as though it’s in an odd time signature when it’s not. A definite standout track. “Failed State” features a nifty little squealing guitar line towards the end. “Comply Or Die” even throws in a little bass breakdown for a few seconds.

Of all the standout features though, a special mention needs to go to drummer Hansen. When third to last track “Feeding The Flames” throws in some tastefully deployed double bass pedal work, the realisation strikes: hey these guys almost never go to the double bass pedal well! With so much extreme metal relying all too often on that metal styling for heaviness it just emphasises how these guys don’t take any shortcuts to construct a death metal banger.

And just as the album starts, the final track “Corporate Dystopia” closes with a sudden bang. No dicking around with any fadeouts or unnecessary ambience. It’s 26 minutes of a hearty kicking that you’ll actually feel better for.

Like the skeletal death horseman of the apocalypse that comes a ridin’ on the album cover, Feeding The Flames Of Annihilation is lean and mean and coming to get you. 8.5/10 Tom Osman

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8.5/10 To Greatness and Glory!
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