### Never To Arise: Hacked to perfection

#### 23/05/12 || Smalley

With a band as iconic as Morbid Angel is (er, was?), there was bound to be a few coattail-hangers along the way, and I think it’s safe to count Never To Arise as one of them; not that their overall style is as similar to Morbid Angelo as say, Mithras’s is (though it is ultimately less competent), but there are some undeniable influences here. Chaotic, Azagthoth-y solos, Sandoval-like double bass blasting, and the occasionally Angelic riff, so to speak? All present and accounted for. I’d guesstimate that roughly… 30-to-40% of NtA’s songwriting/playing takes after the Morbid ones.

The problem is, while I do enjoy some of the instrumental performances here (that drumming!), and the energy-level is occasionally strong enough to make things exciting, too much of Arise’s songwriting is still repetitive, clunky, aimless, and ultimately tedious, with riffs that just fall flat. I mean, the energy level stays high throughout, but that’s still overwhelmed by the basic weakness of the writing. No aspect here is truly bad, and the bright spots save it from being completely average, but only just; maybe they should’ve replaced the rest here that isn’t MA-influenced with some more knock-off material, since at least that would’ve been better.

5.5/10: I’ve heard worse metal, sure.