Dormant Ordeal – Tooth and Nail (Review)

This is the fourth album by Polish death metallers Dormant Ordeal.

2021’s The Grand Scheme of Things was a notable slab of death metal heaviness, so I’ve been looking forward to Tooth and Nail. Across 47 minutes Dormant Ordeal once again showcase their expressive brand of Polish death metal.

Tooth and Nail follows on naturally from its predecessor, delivering a withering hit of intelligently crafted death metal. This time, overall, Dormant Ordeal have focused less on technicality and dissonance on these new songs, and a bit more on melody and atmosphere – occasionally blackened in places. The former still have strong roles to play, but when combined with songwriting that embraces more variety and texture, and with a production that is clearer and has more room to breathe, it’s a progression of the Dormant Ordeal sound, not a repeat. Tooth and Nail sounds more accessible, (relatively speaking), than The Grand Scheme of Things. As always, this is within the context of a death metal brutality that’s ferocious.

Tooth and Nail is aggressive and intense. It never loses the feeling of being deliberately pieced together with exacting precision, but despite this, Dormant Ordeal are not some soulless killing machine. Paradoxically, their murderous ways are infused with passion and a greater atmospheric depth than you’d expect. The melodic and atmospheric components contribute much to this, of course. The songs are well-crafted, delivering brutal fury with the skill of experts. The technical and dissonant elements are felt, fleshing out the music with textures that enliven the whole. The drums are nuanced and powerful, and work with the infectious riffs to produce songs that deliver the goods.

Dormant Ordeal offer up a lot of content for the listener to explore. Beyond the obvious aggression and brutality is a well-oiled machine that’s deliciously intricate. There is a lot of fine detailing and compelling musical depth to get to grips with here, and multiple listens are advised.

Highly recommended.