Macabre Demise is a one-man death metal band from Germany. This is the project’s third album.

Now here’s a band that always seems to hit the spot for me. Both 2015’s Homicidal Parasites and 2017’s Apocalypse demonstrated in no uncertain terms how effective Macabre Demise’s music could be, and now we’re treated to a third full-length.

The music is a carnage-filled mixture of Swedish, US, and old-school death metal, topped with a pinch of grindcore here and there. It’s all wrapped up in the sort of beefy modern production that likes to kick teeth in first and ask questions later.

This is brutally good fun, with thundering grooves and tasty riffs aplenty. Each song is well-written, and aims for a balance between brutality and hooks. There’s even nuance and macabre atmosphere in places, with tracks like Darkness setting mood quite effectively.

The apparent simplicity of these songs belies the creative ideas, clever playing, and intelligent composition that’s gone into these tracks. This approach makes for an album that’s easy to enjoy on the surface, but spend some time with it, get under the hood, and you’ll really be in for a treat. This is one of the many reasons you’ll keep coming back to Awakening.

Awakening is the latest, greatest example of what a death metal powerhouse Macabre Demise is becoming.