Undying Inc

Since their 2006 debut EP Preface to Erase, Undying Inc’s been a bit of a tease. They played innumerable live shows but their music only trickled through in tantalising morsels on EPs and compilations, whipping fans into a frenzy with every release but always leaving them hankering for a comprehensive album. Those promises of sonic brutality and unmatched aggression are met to their full potential on this, finally, their first full-length. Aggressive World Dynasty cannons at you like a runaway freight train, laden with Undying’s tademark hate-and-anger agenda. The band’s sound remains rooted in thrash but the albums strikes out in every direction from there ”“ djent, post-djent and even death metal-esque throwdowns at times with quicksilver shards of melody. Old familiars ”˜Membraneous,’ ”˜Manimal,’ ”˜Evilution,’ ”˜Breeding Gods’ and ”˜Existence Failed’ make their presence felt here but it’s the less heard songs that chart the band’s evolution. ”˜After-Math’ is an adrenaline pumping chug-a-thon that throws teeth-rattling riffage against chiming guitars and a massive breakdown. The title track is a head-on collision between Meshuggah-style djent and Michael Jackson ”˜Smooth Criminal,’ with some of the best riffs on the album as is the morse-code riffing ”˜Contagion.’

Occasionally though, you find yourself wishing that the finer nuances of the guitars could be heard through the relentless bottom-heavy assault of the riffs and the drums, like on ”˜Alloy.’ The same low-end sameness of sound on the album also makes it tough to wrap your head around the songs at first; it takes quite a few listens for the shapes of the songs to emerge in their individuality. However, Dynasty is a well-crafted, mosh-pit igniting expression of rage intent on decimating everything in its path and in that it has no equal. A fantastic album from a great band; but then we expected no less.

Key Tracks: ”˜After-Math,’ ”˜Contagion’