Preludium, Impending Hostility

It appears as though everyone is getting into the war-themed metal these days. Joining the likes of Hail of Bullets and God Dethroned is Poland’s Preludium. Building off of a familiar Polish death metal sound (which leans heavily on Behemoth), the band’s latest effort through Diabolical Conquest Records is a layered, menacing affair depicting images of war and destruction across a barren landscape. It may not be presenting anything new in terms of song structure or innovation, but the music on this disc is ferocious and threatening.

The guitars throughout Impending Hostility are thick and chunky, rolling over you with the assistance of a rumbling tank for a rhythm section that come across like the rattling of machine guns firing across the front line — rapid fire and slinging lead like nobody’s business. The vocals are deep and guttural for the most part, but are consistently accompanied by a raspier backing growl that adds some nice depth to the mix, but at times can be too much of a constant.

Preludium build up to their rumbling, blasting ferocity with the opening track. “Legacy of Destinations” is the call to arms for the band, complete with martial drums and the constant barrage of mortar impacts on your skull. It really sets the tone for the rest of the album. The next two tracks “Realm of Void” and “Desolation” are not as slow to build and hit like a tone of bricks with heaving guitars and more of that rapid fire drum work.

For as insistent as the opening few tracks are, I’m really digging the slower minded and more methodical approach to “Bitter Cold.” Once you get past the cheesy air raid sirens you get some seriously bruising, churning riffs to accompany a slight Mediterranean or Middle Eastern vibe to a couple of leads. The breakdown toward the latter half of the song will have you snapping neck tendons in no time. “Blessing of War,” “Death Campaign” and “Execution” are three of the more maniacally paced tracks on the album. They refuse to let up in their barbaric attack on your skull. “Execution” starts off a little slow, but have no fear, it’ll end up pulverising your spine with more than enough blasting fury to leave you grinning like a madman.

Album closer “Warfare” is an impressive instrumental track that brings back a little more of that Middle Eastern flair that appeared on “Bitter Cold.” It’s a well crafted and performed track that’s more than appropriate to close out a pretty solid album.

Overall Preludium’s Impending Hostility may not be pushing the boundaries of death metal, but what it does do (bruise and bludgeon), it does well. It’s a quick hitting album that never overstays its welcome and, quite simply, is just a lot of fun to listen to if you’re in the mood for something aggressive, destructive and relatively mindless — pretty much how I go through each and every day.