Since bursting out of the Polish underground in 2020, it has been full-steam ahead for aptly-titled death metal quartet Toughness. With a restless kind of energy they’ve already released two albums (reviewed here and here), and quickly follow up their sophomore full-length with the four track EP Prophecy. Never a band to remain stagnant, this release finds the band exploring new territory and sonic textures and Prophecy acts as a warning, a portent of danger to come.
While it’s certainly true that you can’t judge a book by its cover (nor a record by its sleeve), the blood red jacket that houses Prophecy is indicative of the sound contained within. It’s brutal, bombastic, bloodthirsty, and leaps straight for the listener’s jugular. Opening with a riff that sounds as if it has been dredged from the very depths of hell, ‘Carnal Ecstasy’ is everything you’d expect from a death metal record. Deep, booming bass lines and bottomless drums combine to create an eerie feel, as if we are descending a staircase to Dante’s Inferno. The guitars carry just the right amount of distortion and cut through the air like circular saws, whilst the vocals are not of this earth and appear as if from some strange demon entity. It acts as a warning to the curious, but those brave enough to step over the threshold will be rewarded with some of the best death metal this side of the millennium. If you need proof, look no further than the following ‘Cleavered’. Saying all it has to in under three-minutes, it’s the sound of a band brutally dismembering the genre as bits of bone and speckles of blood splatter in every direction.
What sets Toughness apart from their peers is a progressive quality (in its purest definition), these are songs of several suites which are constantly evolving and revolving (like the band themselves) and never stay in one sonic space for long. There’s plenty of neat ideas on here with the band mixing up tempos and sonic structures to great effect. As such, ferocious blast beats nestle next to slow, crushing sections and wide open vistas are paired with dense, claustrophobic passages. The band’s love of death metal means that they rarely step outside of its boundaries, they are, however, pushing at the extremities to see how far they go. Case in point being ‘The Oracle Of Disentanglement’, a maze-like song which leads the listener to some unexpected destinations and final (and bonus) track ‘Defying Of The Messiah’, a brutal beat down that leaves you battered and bruised at its conclusion (but in the best possible way, of course).
Prophecy is the sound of a band at the peak of their powers and as such, I prophetise big things for Toughness.
- Prophecy is released via Godz Ov War Productions and is available now (from here).
Track List:
- Carnal Ecstasy
- Cleavered
- The Oracle Of Disentanglement
Bonus Track:
- Defying Of The Messiah
