Band:	Delyria
Album:	Regression In Mind
Style:	Death metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	August 2009
A review by:	Thryce

01. Empty End For An Empty Man
02. Freedoom
03. Fall
04. Engraved In A Web Of Hate
05. Life Under Rotten Sky
06. Far From Reality [instrumental]
07. Eternal Slaves Of The Mirrors
08. Eulogy
09. Artificial God Dimension
10. Dark Omega
11. Lost

Modern Death metal
Recorded: 16th Cellar Studio, Italy 2009
Label: SG Records
Total Running Time: 47:27



You know the feeling when you, after a long night of pubs and one too many beers and/or student-like shenanigans, order some sort of greasy food in some random joint where they serve random greasy food, and you take the first bite into your cheeseburger/kebab/whatever greasy food, and you think to yourself "Ow man, this is the best cheeseburger/kebab/whatever greasy food... like... EVER!! Damn, this tastes so unbelievably good!", even though you're somewhere aware it's just a regular cheeseburger/kebab/whatever greasy food like any other time? You know that feeling? Well, this is exactly that type of pan-fried record.

From the Italian extreme underground comes Regression In Mind, the debut assault from Delyria. This is the kind of debut album that won't likely bowl you over. Yet no matter how you turn it, you still got hit in the nuts by a bowling ball - you know it. And although this effort is only mildly convincing, it is bound to grow on you like a strangling vine. Yes indeed, we're talking straight-up mediocrity... at its best.

The concept behind Regression In Mind is that of staring one angry lawn mower in the eye - too brutal to be truly effective. Except for the utterly pointless and highly unnecessary acoustic interlude "Far From Reality", the album consists of uncompromising modern flavored death metal songs, constructed in the same harsh yet catchy manner that is preferred by countless metalcore bands. Straightforwardness is not always the best strategy, but in this case, it surely is. In fact, it's seemingly the only used strategy on this record. You see, to appreciate Regression In Mind, you'll need to get over the fact that most of the time the same (kickass) riff gets repeated in the same track over and over again with only small variation. Hell, even a hypersensitive car alarm sounds less repetitive than some of these songs. On the other hand, if you're busy smashing everything to pieces or attempting to bench a new personal record, you really don't care about technical prowess or an outstanding musical experience. What you do care about is unrelenting strength and pumping adrenaline - something this album is full off.

So yeah, Delyria will most likely never win a Nobel Prize for their services to music. Big deal. Sometimes it's not important what kind of greasy food you eat; what counts is that you get it, no matter how mediocre it actually is. Sometimes you just need these kind of ruthless adrenaline shots to keep you going... So in two words, Delyria deliver, but fail to impress.