The DevilsHorns

The 2^nd album by Texan death metal bruisers Architectural Genocide has been a long time in coming. Six long years separate Malignant Cognition from their well-received debut ‘Cordyceptic Anthropomorph’. What they have delivered is an album riddled with brutal death metal riffs, deep and heavy, and a vocalist with a serious grunt.

Clocking in with 8 tracks lasting just shy of 24 minutes, these Texans do not hang around. They attack. The whole album is a violent, aggressive assault on the senses. Unrelenting, Malignant Cognition knocks 7 bells out of you before disappearing in a cloud of ‘what the fuck was that’.

There are some very enjoyable moments. ‘Trophies for my Murders’ has a bullish death metal tone. It is the first of the tracks to seriously get the head bobbing with its stagnated riff and superior guitar work. ‘Malicious Wager’ tips its metal hat towards Dying Fetus as it attempts to suffocate you with a pillow.

Technically excellent, Nat Conner is an absolute machine behind the kit. He drives each and every second of the album, but the snare just irritates me. It sounds like a frying pan being hit with paint-brushes, a sound I have not heard since the 1990’s.

I need to preface my review by saying that, in the most part, Malignant Cognition has been very well received and I urge you to check other review sites out and bear in mind that my review is based on the 1 listen and is scored on the likelihood of further listens. Numerous sites have scored this album high, and so I urge you to check it out.

My failings in appreciating a drumming masterclass should not prevent you from scoping out what is a very decent sophomore album with many good points.

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