The year 2023 ends with a third album for Embrace Your Punishment.
Founded in 2004 under the name C-Vice, the band adopted its current identity in 2009, when their first EP was released. Made of Stone also marks the collaboration of Vivien (vocals), Geoffroy (guitar), Clement (drums) and Clément (bass, Sun Eater) with Czech label Lacerated Enemy Records.
The album kicks off with the rawest violence of Nemesis, a short but effective track that lets massive Brutal Death roots rub shoulders with Hardcore energy, as on the heavy break that finally propels us towards Aeons Of Fire and its jerky Grind influences. The band bludgeons us without respite under the vindictive screams, letting the moshparts take turns before welcoming Jason Netherton (Misery Index) on Unconquered, promising uncompromising violence that immediately delivers. The devastating riffs are launched at full speed between two devastating breaks, letting them express themselves, then Oppression takes up more or less the same elements to continue in this intense atmosphere that only awaits a live performance to confirm its effectiveness. The guitar sometimes adds a few more vivid harmonics, while Above Creation adopts similar elements to contrast its groovy rhythm section with more screaming tones, then Kirk Windstein (Crowbar, Down) joins the four musicians to give Made of Stone Part I a much thicker touch, which the band perfectly couples with its Hardcore-infused Death Metal. To everyone’s surprise, Made of Stone Part II kicks off with an acoustic riff, offering a real moment of quietness and even melancholy, but it’s crushed by Worthless Hound, which naturally returns to the raw violence and jerky moshparts we’ve been waiting for. The apocalyptic final carries us through to Minotaur’s Wrath and its stunned regularity, which lets some martial patterns be disturbed by explosive riffs, then Julien Truchan (Benighted, Néfastes) joins the band to bring his touch of piggy rage to Exterminate The Threat, a fairly short composition but one that spares no expense to prove what they’re capable of. We quickly move on to Fury Of The Fates, a track built on a similar dynamic, lining up silly and nasty moshparts to make you move, then The Ones Above Us closes the album, not without adding a final dose of catchy heaviness, savage howls and energetic patterns.
Embrace Your Punishment has evolved perfectly, now combining all the heaviness of Brutal Death with the raw efficiency of Hardcore. Made of Stone is the perfect album for an all-night moshing session, with a few surprises thrown in for good measure!
85/100