Sardonis - II ...

It should come as no surprise that this new album from Belgium duo Sardonis is a riff lovers dream. The fact that it is just two guys making this pummeling wall of sound makes it even more of a delight for fans of heavy riff rock. With a style that crosses over everything from High on Fire to Cathedral to the nastiest death metal you can imagine, Sardonis could never be accused of playing it safe. The band is of course instrumental but they are one of the few bands where you never notice there are no vocals and the truth is a vocalist would only lower the intensity anyway more than likely. The 'II' album is only 37 minutes long but that is just long enough for the album to hold your attention right up to the last notes.

The word "pummeling" really sums up this album better than any other word I can think of. The riffs are crushing and intense but the drums are equally up to the challenge by pounding, thrashing and barreling through songs with intense drum beats and sick drum rolls. Even at low volumes, the brutality of these songs is overwhelming at times. The opening two tracks 'Burial of Men' and 'Warmonger' are violent with their amount of aggression and unrelenting power. While it can easily be compared with High on Fire, the riffing on these tracks are less generic in their metallic qualities and more just off-the-wall sludgy mayhem. The riffing is not exactly complex, but it is also not exactly basic either. The main thing they seem to be after is energetic intensity and aggression and they have found an overwhelming amount of that with these tracks. The production is huge.....a perfect match for the wall of riffs and apocalyptic drumming style.

The formula if you could call it that doesn't really change through tracks such as 'The Drowning' and 'Emperor' but nor would you want it to but the next track signals a slight change which is perhaps the only low-point of the album. The track 'The Torch and The Bearer' lacks the intensity that the earlier tracks have and while it is certainly not a bad track, it disrupts the overall flow of the album. However that slight loss in intensity is made up for the last two tunes 'Entering the Woods' and the epic 9:33 of 'Aftermath of Battles' which is basically like being bashed over the head with a sledgehammer. Out of all the tracks, this one is the most atmospheric and the most diverse so the album ends pretty much the way it started....mind-blowing.

There are many instrumental bands in the world today but few have the intensity and driving power that Sardonis have and few can make it seem so seamless and fluid. The less than 40 minutes of this album seemingly blasts past the eardrums in just mere minutes of sonic-metal bliss. This album is raw but precise, polished but off the wall with its riffing aggression and it has the power to rattle the bones at loud volumes. If you like your music to be as obnoxious as possible, this is the album for you....9/10.

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