Trauma (POL) - Archetype of Chaos (2010)^{Release ID: 12763}

After reading some extremely mixed reviews of "Archetype Of Chaos" I had very few expectations on my first listen but goddamn I was pleasantly surprised. This is death metal of the absolute highest quality & I have no idea where the negative reviews come from. I can only assume it's a matter of taste or a backlash against the groovier riffs which are still crushingly heavy & beautifully executed. Trauma's sound is simply fantastic. The production is nothing short of outstanding & the performance tight as hell. The drum sound in particular is perfect for this style of music & drummer Arkadiusz "Mały" Sinica is an amazing talent. Although he can blast away with the best of them he doesn't rely on a constant barrage to keep the listener entertained. There are so many great changeups & drum rolls throughout the album. Vocalist Artur "Chudy" Chudewniak has a really deep but aggressive style that I really get into & Jarosław "Mister" Misterkiewicz's searing guitar solos are both melodic & entertaining. The Polish death metal sound of bands like Vader is evident. As are the Morbid Angel & Meshuggah influences but overall Trauma sound fresh & energetic. There's a great deal of energy in all the tracks & also a tonne of cool little production ideas like the melodic guitar parts in the back of the mix during otherwise intense sections. It's clear that Trauma have learnt a lot over the course of recording six previous albums. The middle trio of tracks ("War Machine", "The Slime" & "The Truth Murder") are particularly effective & I am left wondering why I've never heard of these guys when they formed way back in 1992. It's these kind of releases that keep me interested in the death metal scene after all these years. If you like extreme metal of any sort this album will kick your arse.