Band:	Pathology
Album:	Legacy Of The Ancients
Style:	Brutal death metal
Release date:	July 2010

01. Intro
02. Code Injection
03. Among Giants
04. Abduction
05. Afterlife
06. Collapsing In Violence
07. Tower Of Babel
08. Blood Runs
09. The Extinction Of Flesh
10. Legacy Of The Ancients
11. Saturn Brotherhood

On random occasions, in the sweaty hurricane of a mosh-pit, the scheming metal gods make second-rate metal bands sound first-rate. Blame dizziness, if you want, blame deafness. But you'd be being foolishly rational. The metal gods exist. They exist and they have a sick sense of humor.

Drunk and belligerent, the familiar death metal sound kept me in a small pit throughout Pathology's set at the "To Hell with God Tour." They kept it short, snorting a few insults at the still gathering crowd in between the few songs they played. I liked their set. Actually, I more-than-liked it, and sauntered over to the merch table and bought their newest CD before the second band took the stage. "Keep this feeling alive!" I thought. Get me another beer!

Well. When my alcohol buzz wore off and I had been brutalized by Deicide's strangely obese fan base, I had barely enough energy to go to my car and play Legacy of the Ancients, my new favorite album. I made it, however, played it, and didn't like it. Not one bit. Maybe I'm just tired, I thought. Played it the next morning. Didn't like it. Played it in the afternoon, didn't like it. Played it at night (and almost all albums sound better at night). It sucked and sucked harder than an Oreck vacuum in space. The metal gods betrayed me.

Almost every song sounds the same. In fact, double takes will almost invariably be made when tracks end and then, seemingly, start over. And over. The guitar work sounds the same. The vocals sound the exact same. The drumming sounds the same. Put a pinch harmonic here, and scrub some triplets in there. Mumble-growl some gibberish about zombies. And repeat. It's all fairly brutal, yes, but it's tedious. Very tedious. After three tracks, assuming you haven't sold your metal CDs and developed an affinity for, say, baseball card collecting and Usher, you'll likely be reaching for Pierced From Within to put on for yet another spin. Legacy is the sort of album that makes you appreciate the classics. It's the sort of album that makes one pessimistic, nostalgic, and pissed the fuck off.

Even if you're in the mood for some unassuming, death metal, don't bother with it. While simplicity has its charms, its charms are limited. If an album is both overly simplistic and unoriginal, there's little that can be said in its favor. Legacy of the Ancients borrows the old brutal death metal formula, uses it, and contributes nothing to its evolution as a genre. What's that you say? You like brutal death as it is? Well, even in that case, there's nothing Pathology does that, say, Suffocation or Dying Fetus don't do, and do exponentially better. And those are just the big names.

But allow me to be positive for a moment. Pathology does, if my memory serves, put on a fun show. They also, insofar as they have a formula, know their brutal death metal. A little variation, however, not only wouldn't have hurt, it would've helped Legacy escape the 4's and, maybe, enter the 5's. Nevertheless, you get my point. That's a 4.9, comrades. Avoid.