SIN OF GOD, Satan Embryo (2010, self-released)

The skull:
I imagine the members of Sin of God kicking down the door of some illustrator’s studio like barbarians, possibly even carrying their guitars for some reason, shouting, “Painter man! We demand a cover! We want a big ass skull, and a big ass snake, and make the whole motherfucker red and evil! NOW!” and then standing there, panting and stinking, while the artist scrambles to throw something together, fearing for his very life. When he sheepishly turns his monitor around after about 27 minutes to present his work, the musicians grunt and the guitarist declares, “It is good,” throws down a pile of hides as payment, and leads his warband out of the studio, stuffing a flash drive with the art into his filthy jerkin.

The music:
Mix up Vader and Morbid Angel with a little Krisiun, and you’ve got Sin of God. Straight-ahead modern death metal like this doesn’t do a lot for me, but Sin of God are definitely better than most of their kind. Their riffing isn’t exactly technical, but it’s very precise, and although they employ an awful lot of blast beats, they do it with some sense of measure and a mix that doesn’t bury the guitars in percussive white noise. The drums are in fact probably programmed, and if they’re not they’re at least sample-replaced, but for some reason, I don’t really mind. Even the vocals are pretty good! It sounds like at least a couple guys are chipping in with growls and grunts, and I wouldn’t say that any of them are particularly noteworthy, but they’re at the same time just what the music calls for, and the Hungarian accents lend an exotic twist to the vocals. I don’t see myself craving this sort of thing much, but if you listen to brutal death metal with any regularity, you should check these guys out. This EP was tacked on as bonus tracks to their debut full length, Limbus (which I haven’t heard), so if you should be so inclined to indulge in Sin of God, that’s probably your best bet.
— Friar Johnsen