Here comes When Plagues Collide‘s second album.
The Belgian band formed in 2016 around Deathcore, followed by Symphonic influences, then Wouter Dergez (vocals), Santy Van der Mieren (guitar), Joris Dergez (guitar), Siebe Hermans (drums, Coffin Feeder, ex-Verwilderd) and Joshua Kinsbergen (bass) finally announced An Unbiblical Paradigm, their second album, on Necktwister.
After a progressive and orchestral introduction, Converted Into Cipher’s first riffs come to hit us at full strength. Whether keyboards bring the track a majestic dimension, wild screams and complex riffs reveal the band’s rage and heaviness before an impressive final, which leads us to Death in Progress, an effective and extremely well balanced composition. The solid rhythmic nails us to the ground while the orchestrations bring a dark touch to welcome Sven de Caluwé (Aborted, Coffin Feeder…) to scream with the vocalist, creating a surge of fury followed by God Complex. The disturbing sounds will finally be trampled by massive riffs and theatrical symphonic elements giving violence a particular relief, but the track is quite short, and it is after a last chaotic break it will give way to The Glutton, a more lively and aggressive track. Blasts and fast riffs welcome sharp leads, unleashed screams as well as much more melodious elements, letting leads and worked keyboards create this contrast, just like on the melancholic Monopoly of Violence, which lets a dark guitar create a heavy atmosphere. The rhythmic will come back very quickly to unleash an impressive arsenal of heaviness and jerky aggressiveness before the two elements come together, leading us to the final scream which opens The Grand Mouth of Hell. Massive riffs don’t leave us a single moment of respite, coupling wild riffs with monstrous breaks and powerful vocal parts, then Devourer of Memories comes to add a pessimistic touch created by a dark sonic veil. Rage does not weaken on the most aggressive parts, even offering some quite Old School patterns before In Alle Stilte comes to close the album with a heady melody which progresses and intensifies, accompanied by some heavy lyrics.
When Plagues Collide perfectly knows how to mix majestic orchestrations with its massive riffs to create overpowering waves. An Unbiblical Paradigm unashamedly ranks alongside the latest releases from Deathcore’s big names.
90/100