Rating: 6.8

Country: Poland

Genre: Death Metal

Record Label: Redrum 666

Release Date: 2007

Track list:
1. Beginning (Intro)
2. Revenge
3. Mankind Dies
4. Prophecy
5. God of All
6. Dead God Arrival
7. Temptation
8. And Death Shall Have No Dominion
9. Born Like This
10. Hell Burns (Outro)

Total playing time 30:30

Band Website: Ferosity

Ferosity - Overthrown Divinity

Pavulon - Vocals
Habib - Guitar
Marro - Guitar
TommyDevilll - Bass
Sebek - Drums

I don't usually like to start a review with a question but since it's gnawing away at me like the threat of invisible germs to an OCD sufferer, I have to sincerely ask why would anyone name a Death Metal band, "Ferosity"? Why not something ear catching or that adds a certain relish to the tongue like say, "Vehicular Manslaughter" or "Crackwhore Zombie Abusement Park" or something? When I think of "Ferosity" I then think of some new hip caffiene or testosterone laced energy drink marketed to 20-something alpha male college jocks with enough raging hormones to prompt them to hump even the neighborhood fire hydrants.

Nevertheless, Ferosity plays a very simple, groove oriented form of Death Metal that's obviously influenced by the likes of Dying Fetus. Put it this way, if Dying Fetus was actually one of those bargain bin instructional dance videos that aid sickly, vitamin deficient and bespectacled high school nerds in impressing the snobby homecoming queens at the next senior dance then Ferosity would certainly be the newly confident kings of smoothing charisma. In fact, these guys are probably better at being Dying Fetus than Dying Fetus themselves. Of course, if you have indeed heard their music at least once in your lives then perhaps you know what I'm talking about; the mosh pit inducing breakdowns, slam riffs, vocal patterns that practically emulate the street swagger of hip hop music, etc. Basically, a more primitive, ghetto form of brutality aimed at pulling the heart strings of Hatebreed and Madball fans who may have felt that the latter have finally lost their street cred or tough guy edge so to speak. As you can probably already tell, I've never been a fan of this style of Death Metal perhaps because both musically and aesthetically, it misconstrues to its audiences what Death Metal is supposed to be about. Death Metal should not be something that makes you want to dance and jump about like you're at a backyard wrestling event for crying out loud! It should envelop one with a sense of isolation, despair, and even possibly make one deeply examine his or her own mortality to the point of practically question everything they've ever known or perceived in their day to day humdrum life. Well, I don't mean to pontificate here but I suppose you all know what I'm trying to get at here.

What I do feel that successfully separates these guys from being just another slam DM clone however is thankfully the pitch black aura that at times permeates the air like a black, toxic mist. For starters, the frantically paced and viscous as black, molten lava-like riffing together with the really low, guttural Craig Pillard-esque vocals eerily recall some of Incantation's best moments circa '93 and at best sort of remind you of how amazing the genre was back in the early 90's before the Hot Topic crowd made it more listener friendly. Furthermore, the band at least does a nice job of fluctuating between tempo shifts rather abruptly at times as if to express a more schizophrenic feel or perhaps a state of emotional collapse. The third track, "Mankind Dies" is a prime example (and rare exception of how DM should be done) as the wild eyed frenzy of thrashier segments are broken up by moments of contemplative despair and doom (think Covenant era Morbid Angel) in between which overall suggests a narrative description between a helpless victim and an unemotional torturer. Indeed, the CD's slower, doomier moments actually possess more substance which makes the booty swaying, pit inducing parts seem so out of place that after awhile you begin to wonder how seriously these guys actually take themselves.

Though I'm not totally sold yet however, I'm still looking forward to seeing where the band's next opus takes them. After all, you do get a good sense of just how young these lads still are (at least judging by their bandpic) thus after some years of maturity, I can honestly see these guys finetuning and sharpening their craft more. Not a total disappointment but could definitely do without the alpha male theatrics otherwise these guys are nothing more than the genre's own worst parody.

August 15th, 2008