Band: CONQUEST ICON
Country: Poland
Title: Empire of the Worm
Label: Godz ov War Productions
Year: 2020
Style: Death Metal

Review:
This band was formed back in 2009 but I don't know if it's treated as a stand-alone band or a project for less busy days because it's made of musicians with serious experience that were/are active in other bands as well, some of them with resonance, like Saltus, Gortal or Pyorrhoea (by the way, what happened with all these bands?), and keeping in mind their two albums to date are 10 years apart one from the other, so a pretty big distance for a "serious" band I'd say. Anyway, talking about their new album, Conquest Icon offers 10 tracks in 40 minutes of playing time and sounds like Behemoth and Deicide combined; old-school (mostly) fast paced Death Metal with Black Metal influences, with plenty of hooks and passages that avoid monotony, but the rest is basically all you'd expect from such a record, not outstanding but very well done, with good taste and knowledge of the genre. The music is dark, atmospheric, morbid, hateful at times, not overly technical but extremely precise and calculated, but the best thing about it in my opinion is the organic production, that old-school feeling is present from start to finish without falling into that rough / simplistic / primitive type of trap that many bands think is the quintessence of old-school Extreme Metal. In one word the record feels genuine, like nothing is being forced or imposed, it really feels like the band is playing the music they like and it's all so natural. Bottom line we have a genuine Death Metal album recommended to both die-hard fanatics of the genre but especially to those who'd like to discover Death Metal in its naked form.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8.5/10

Contact:
conquesticon.bandcamp.com
godzovwar.com