01. Dissonance Corporeum
02. Collapsing Spiritual Nebula
03. Intrusive Illusions (Echoes From A Distant Plane)
04. Formless Seeking Form
05. Irradiated Self
06. In Unreality's Coffin
07. Erroneous Birth
08. It Is Without Shape...
09. In Anguished Levitation

What lies In Unreality's Coffin is nothing but an unrelenting slab of old-school death metal.

Ectovoid is a death metal band spawned from the hellish depths of the deep South in Alabama back in 2010. Influenced by the likes of Autopsy, Incantation, and Morbid Angel, they have a rough no-nonsense approach to death metal, similar to that of other bands thriving on the US scene at this present time such as Gatecreeper and Necrot. They set their career off to a solid start in 2012 with the release of their crushing full-length debut Fractured In The Timeless Abyss, which was followed by their equally devastating sophomore Dark Abstraction in 2015. Now they've been exhumed from the cavernous depths of putrefaction once more, hoping their bone-crushing riffs will bludgeon your brains out for good this time with their third album, In Unreality's Coffin.

Unsurprisingly, In Unreality's Coffin doesn't look to reinvent the wheel in any way, and it very much continues down the same vicious, brutal, and intense route the previous album took. You'll notice right from the off that the instrumentation is nothing out of the ordinary, yet it's highly effective for what you expect from this genre, as it just gets right to the point without the need for anything fancy or technical. The guitars duel between crunchy mid-tempo riffs that trudge along like an uncontrollable steam locomotive and more rapid riffs with often irresistible grooves, which suddenly burst into wailing, shredding, and semi-melodic solos.

As such, whether your preference is to feel like being smashed in the face by a hammer, torn apart by a chainsaw, or flattened by a high-speed train, the guitars will accommodate your needs accordingly. The rhythm section is relentless from the get-go, as the shattering bass and pummelling drums accompany the guitars on the path of brutal destruction, whilst the gutturals sickly spew out surprisingly physiological lyrics that delve into the darkest regions of your mind and soul.

In terms of production, it's relatively raw and unpolished, although not quite stripped back to the bare bone, similar to the way in which bands sounded during the early 90s when the genre was truly beginning to hit its stride. This means they want listeners to experience death metal in its most authentic and primal form, as opposed to the more refined and modern standard of today. Saying that, the powerful tone manages to make the overall sound feel dense and more suffocatingly layered than it actually is. It even feels claustrophobic at times, despite each element managing to sustain enough clarity to be heard in the mix.

This approach may not be the most original or, peculiar lyrics aside, the most inspiring, but it's undeniably true to old-school death metal, containing a substantial level of groove without hindering any brutality. Death metal has become an oversaturated genre, particularly from the many bands who still crave the old-school sound and style despite it being mastered a million times over. I'm not entirely convinced Ectovoid have achieved a level high enough to stand out from the ever-growing crowd just yet. There are many who would want nothing more than for them to stick to the route they feel comfortable on; I would just like to hear a few more memorable grooves, and for them to push the boundaries that extra bit further next time.

Performance:	7
Songwriting:	6
Originality:	4
Production:	7