In the larger context of death metal, Pakistan is a rare country to look for a death metal band. Yet against all the odds, Azaab appeared out of nowhere and instantly caught the attention of the metal scene, and for a good reason! Backed by the mighty Satanath Records, which have been in the forefront to promote underground bands, Azaab dropped their new single “The Infernal Citadel”, which gained a great reputation quickly. It was about time the band would unleash its full wrath with its debut full-length album. Finally, their album “Summoning the Cataclysm” is out, and I can’t help but talk about it.
From the starting itself, the band avoids the generic trope of blasting straight-forward and rather chooses for a prelude track.The album intro “Pandemonium” starts off with a serene clean intro with a sense of darkness and melancholy mixed in it, before blasting off with powerful riffs and intense double bass on drums accompanied by symphonic elements. Tracks like “Carbon Plague” and “Hollow Park” channelizes the old-school death metal energy to its finest with its tremolo riffs. Being fast and techy to its core, the sound will instantly remind you of Hath and Decapitated. Often, the guitar layers account for moments of fast techy shreds. “Hollow Park” especially has a dominating groove, in the fashion of old Decapitated, behind all the double bass and blast beat madness.
Halfway through the album accounts for the tracks “Preachers of Hate” and “When Worlds Collide” - a surreal blackened feeling surrounds the mighty caveman riffs. The caveman riffs along with the chuggy moments are powerful enough to melt your face! In addition, the tapping riffs in Gorod fashion and the use of a lot of open dissonance chords like Opeth accounts for some memorable passages on the tracks. Not to forget, Bobby Koelble (Death) as the featured artist on “When Worlds Collide” accounts for some insanely technical solos. Accompanying that are the guitar proficiency of Afraz Mamoon and Shahab Khan, who don't fail to mesmerize me for a moment.
“The Infernal Citadel” is one of the most unique tracks of the album - Starting off with middle-eastern phrygian based riff to flowing into sheer heaviness with dissonance chord progression and few catchy riff phrasings aided by the groovy drums, it showcases a lethal mix of brutal death metal and old-school death metal. The guitar solo of Phil Tougas (First Fragment, Equipoise) brings in total mayhem for the later half. “Trophies” begins with a melancholic clean intro before bleeding into the blackhole of mammoth dissonance chords and powerful drums. Clearly, the song knows how to be melodically-laiden. While the heavier rhythm guitars account for much of the brutality, the lead guitars carry forward the heart of the song. Adhitya Perkasa is a non-stop machine on every song, switching flawlessly between his fast blast beats and groovy double bass while losing no intensity. The band doesn't fail to amaze you even for the last track - the catchy technically driven “B.L.O.O.D.B.O.R.N” will be a favorite to all the extreme metalheads out there.
Azaab doesn’t shy away to look back to their roots and pay tribute to one of the prominent bands of the death metal realm - Decapitated. The cover to their classic “The Empty Throne” is almost on-point, and the band almost nails it to perfection. The coarse and unique vocal texture of Saad Latif adds some individual flavor to the song.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Website: https://www.facebook.com/azaabmetal
Genre: Death Metal, Progressive Death Metal
