Azarath - Praise the Beast (2009)

   Azarath was founded by Inferno, Behemoth's drummer as a side project in which several well known names of the Polish extreme underground scene have shown up.

   While Behemoth turned more mainstream and audience friendlier with time, Azarath was formed to represent of pure blasphemous musical brutality, and that didn't change much since than. They debuted with a quite intense, and obscure toned brutal death album, and from their third full-lenght release it seemed like they tried to increase that intensiveness by turning a bit more technical. This ambition is maybe more evident on "Praise the Beast". The main view by the combination of chaoticly switching fast themes, the hell deep growling vocal style and the everlasting brutal hammering somehow keep reminding to Immolation. But maybe it's little bit more exaggerated/blasphemous version. The frequently switching guitar themes, technical solutions and the clear, heavy and great quality sound could make the album very enjoyable for the fans of brutal sound. Unlike at most new waved brutal death bands, Azarath's themes are usually enough catchy and effective to not let the listener to forget after 40 mins of listening about everything that was heard. It's also because these technical switches are kind of moderated, so the themes having some time to be enjoyed instead of piling up too fast to lose their sense. In general all Azarath albums are high quality releases, and "Praise the Beast" isn't disappointing either.