Artist: Pathology
Album: Legacy of the Ancients
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Victory

With a graphic zombie apocalyptic album cover it’s safe to say you know what you’re about to encounter without even giving it a spin. If you haven’t clued in yet, San Diego natives Pathology temper with the darker side of music, brutal death metal. Just hearing a founding member of Cattle Decapitation and a former Disgorge vocalist joined together to start a band screams promise, but unfortunately that’s not entirely the case here. Since their inception in 2002 they’ve endured countless line-up changes and with new members on board they still haven’t been able to deviate from previous releases or make any strides towards progression. If you’re looking for something complex or influential, you won’t find it here. Their latest offering, Legacy of the Ancients unleashes a gore-soaked assault as vulgar filth leaks out of every crevice, just as its predecessors did.

Pathology’s uncompromising onslaught barges its way through the length of the album while it ambushes your eardrums. Inside you’ll find a flood of low-tuned guitars immersed in blazing double bass, but more often than not the vocals derive your attention from the instrumentals. Matti Way’s bowel shaking gutturals bellow at unfathomable depth but don’t dare meander to mid-levels or further. His lack of dynamics quickly become a huge downfall on the album and starts to make it a tedious listen. The album kicks off with the soundscape, “Intro,” that eases the listener until they’re greeted with thick chugging and buzzsaw tremolo riffs on, “Code Injection.” Every song is brutal death metal, which is great, except they never venture past their comfort zone and it becomes hard to differentiate between tracks and starts to blend together.

It seems like Pathology aim to create a sound that is as dark and vicious as possible and they undeniably succeed, but midway through it’s apparent that Legacy of the Ancients is a carbon-copy of not only their older material, but a slew of other goremongers. “Abduction,” offers a lot in terms of music with its interesting fast-paced riffs, crushing breakdown and Dave Astor’s relentless drum work. His performance carries a lot of the intensity on the album and ultimately provides the only leg the band stands on. He may oversaturate each song with blast beats but his dexterity hurdles at the listener at incredible speeds.

In the end, maybe I’m just not the crowd for this type of music. I’m a huge admirer of anything heavy but this album just feels repetious, uninspired and completely disappointing. Pathology hit their prime during the Incisions of Perverse Debauchery era but have since lost all footing. Legacy of the Ancients does have some highlight moments but after the punishing album ends; you can barely recall any intricacies among the barrage of sonic carnage. Clocking in just under 30 minutes, I listened to it over and over hoping it would grow on me…it didn’t.

Score: 4/10
Review written by: Nerissa Judd

• Author
• Recent Posts

James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

Latest posts by James Shotwell (see all)

• 2015’s Most Underrated Films - December 29, 2015
• Passing The Torch: The End Of An Era For UTG - December 1, 2015
• UTG PREMIERE: Before The Streetlights – “Private Browser” - November 26, 2015