ALBUM REVIEW: Arroganz – Morsus

German Blackened Death Metal trio ARROGANZ are back with their 5th album of groove-laden Extreme Metal. Out now via Supreme Chaos Records.

This album is one that hits quickly with a fearsome tonality. I am immediately impressed by the mix with eerie guitar riffs getting driven forth with utter conviction by huge sounding bass lines that sound marvellously tight. The drums and vocals add plenty of monstrous aggression to this crushing sound that is so brutal and yet has plenty of atmosphere. Driven by precision and with stellar songwriting abilities, the ambience of “Morsus” is captivating from early on and keeps you hooked throughout. One thing that is abundantly clear early on is the amount of groove in this music that reminds me of Dark Fortress, something I mean positively as who doesn’t enjoy some catchy, riffy Extreme Metal that you can sink your teeth into? There is also lots of progressive and unique ideas presented here with tons of potential for the band to continue developing into something utterly unstoppable with similar sonic nuance to bands like Horrendous.

Throughout the record we get a variety of song lengths which works to create an effect of desperation while keeping the juggernaut forging onwards without remorse. There is a very linear flow to this release that hugely aids the atmospheric side of things while never feeling over-indulgent of boring. Perhaps some of the humorous song titles may be off-putting to some, but there is something very enticing about how damn hard these pieces hit and with inarguably fantastic musicianship behind them which counts for a lot. Fierce, hook-filled and monolithically meaty, it is an album of devilishly dark and eerie proportions with some of the finest delivery one could hope for in this style. A bit more grit wouldn’t go amiss but that is perhaps just me being a typical underground Metal lover and complaint about not enough imperfection like we all tend to do. That said, the frenzied energy and bite of the record certainly makes up for the cleanliness with such an otherworldly vibe to everything emanating from this record.

Arroganz are a band who perform that tight Blackened Death Metal I have mentioned when talking about acts like Fornicus and Sulphur Aeon, with a much cleaner sound than many Extreme Metal acts but still not falling into the trap of being over-produced or clinical. All in all this is a really solid effort, perhaps some fat could be trimmed to make it a bit more concise but otherwise, this is some brilliant Extreme Metal that is certainly worth a spin. -7.5/10