Critical Extravasation – Order of Decadence
Release Date: 18th November 2022
Label: Redefining Darkness Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Technical Death Metal, Thrash Metal.
FFO: Pestilence, Morgoth, Death, Gorguts.
Review By: Eric Wilt
Critical Extravasation is a modern death/thrash band from Moscow, Russia. Comprised of vocalist Alexander Mokin, guitarist Sergey Stepanenko, bassist Victor Khaychenko who also handles synths, and session drummer Vladimir Udarnov, the band is set to release Order of Decadence, a slab of seven blistering songs of technical devastation on 18 November via Redefining Darkness Records.
Critical Extravasation comes out swinging on Order of Decadence with Waltz of Hypocrisy. The first track of the album rests firmly in the Death/Morgoth camp of death/thrash, with an emphasis on precise playing and technical songwriting. Songs like Clotted Negligence and Devastating Virtue continue with this focus on technicality while retaining their accessibility. Redeeming Flames begins with a bass intro that leads into a Pestilence-style riff that allows Mokin’s shrill scream to shine. While Feast on Dreams, which features a slick solo by Stepanenko, is one of the heaviest songs on the album and one of the fastest as well. Fans of songs with a breakneck pace will come back to this song again and again. And, while all of the musicians are phenomenal, even in spite of their relative youth, bassist Khaychenko comes up with some seriously sick riffs that add a deeper dimension to the already complex songs.
Although the focus of this review is on the music, it is important to note that Redefining Darkness Records had this to say about the ongoing war in Ukraine: “this album is all about Critical Extravasation’s extreme distaste for the current regime in Russia. They are Anti-War, and one of the members even assisted by volunteering at a Ukrainian refugee camp in Latvia.”
Critical Extravasation is one of the more talented and enjoyable bands to cross my desk in a long time. If you were to take equal parts death metal, thrash metal, and technical death metal, throw them in a blender, shake in a few drops of phenomenal musicianship, and top it with some complex yet accessible songwriting and mix it all up, you would get Order of Decadence. The album is dropping a little late in the year, but I would not be surprised to see it land on some AotY lists anyway.
(4 / 5)
Thank you!
No problem, Alek!