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Long Awaited debut EP from NYC's death dealers Somnol.
Following in the foosteps of their 2014 Demo, released via Electric Assault Records, Somnol return with a devastating 5 Track EP of crushing death metal.
Our take: This debut EP from NYC death metal duo Somnol arrives a full nine years after their 2014 demo tape. Somnol features Evan Radigan from the Rival Mob on drums and vocals and Chris Bowman from Ajax on strings, but other than an appreciation of rawness and brutality, you can’t hear much of the members’ hardcore backgrounds in Somnol. Actually, when the tape started and the intro for “Brain Death” kicked off, I was taken aback by the musicianship. Plenty of punks these days are exploring their interest in underground metal, but the intro for that track is this modal riff that sounds like something that could have appeared on Death’s Human LP. That only last a few seconds, though, before Somnol dives headfirst into straightforward brutality with some gnarly early Morbid Angel-style pummel. While Brain Death remains in that more brutal and straightforward mode for most of its five tracks, the musical ambition and sophisticated sense of composition is apparent throughout, making Somnol sound a lot more interesting than your typical old school death metal throwback. The recording is a big part of that too, with Will Killingsworth’s gritty but powerful recording successfully keeping any kind of polish at bay.