Ignivomous – Death Transmutation (2009) [Nuclear War Now!] // Grade: A-

Ignivomous means to vomit fire and that’s exactly what this album does for 40 minutes. 7 tracks of skull-fucking, fist pounding, stomping brutal death metal. There’s no beating around the bush either. No pleasant foreplay. They just charge right in. After listening to a few tracks, you begin to wonder where they’re from. Sweden? Germany? NO. Australia. In fact, if you weren’t aware, the band features a member of Destroyer 666 and other ex-Australian metal talent. Death Transmutation successfully mocks the Swedish style of death metal. It mocks it with a middle finger and a sledgehammer. The Aussies prove that geographic location is shit and all you need is a little blood.

That should tip you off that Death Transmutation is one of the heaviest albums of 2009. I know it’s characteristic to say that about all death metal, but I’m not joking here. If there were more words to describe the brutality that lives in each of these tracks, I’d use it right now. “Hedonistic Pain Ritual” and the title-track “Death Transmutation” immediately take the first punch, shattering your jaw bone. “Noneuclidean Maelstrom” delivers with an epic double-bass drum intro. Once the vocals kick in, they almost blend right into the aggressive riffs and ridiculous old-school death metal beats.

“The World Upon Nihil” gives you your first breath, for only a few seconds before continuing the onslaught. The best track on the album is “Bereft of the Intelligible Realm”. The vocals are so vast and destructive. Ignivomous takes you down a twisted road to the graveyard in “The Alchemy of Suffering”. Church bells chime, the guitars and drums are leading you to your final resting place. Then the old-school riffs and drums set in, burying you shovel by shovel in the soaking mud. You still have 7 minutes of heavy brutality left to endure. Mid-way through the track, it slows down, further delaying your death. As the track begins to near the end, it pans out leaving you to die a slow and painful death.

- Prolly