Guilded Abyss

I'm pretty sure they meant to call this album "Gilded" Abyss rather than "Guilded," as that would mean "of or part of a guild" which isn't out of the question but would be a very strange phrase. Anyway, this is the seventh album for this quite busy California band, who have cranked out 4 albums just in the last ten years. This is pummeling, raw-edged Blackened Death Metal, maybe favoring the death a bit. It has a really good, saw-edged guitar sound and a churning riff style that makes for a violent and cold atmosphere. The songwriting is maybe a little monotonous, as these songs just kind of bulldoze away without much in the way of variation or dynamic. Everything is mixed into a grinding wall of seething aggression, and the vocals are an indecipherable hollow roar in the background. I actually like this quite a lot, but it has very clear limitations on what it can do.