"DAAAAAAAAMN, son." That pretty much sums up Embryonic Devourment‘s first full length quite well. I grabbed Fear of Reality Exceeds Fantasy on a blind whim, more or less because I saw the Tony Koehl artwork and said to myself, "Holy shit, that looks identical to the last Malignancy album, but with aliens experimenting on people on a whacky space ship."

Yeah, Tony Koehl is starting to get a bit repetitive like Ed Repka (and you just know Ed Repka has reused that same apocalyptic background motif to hell and back in countless metal albums).

Regardless, Embryonic Devourment holds their own, regardless of how ridiculously attractive the art work is. Embryonic Devourment is essentially a side project of West Coast death metal act Mummification. Never having heard Mummification prior to hearing Embryonic Devourment, I didn’t know what to expect going in. Despite the "-ification" suffix of their sister band, Embryonic Devourment opt for a style of brutal technical death/grind that could best be described as "Pinch harmonic-light Malignancy." Throughout Fear of Reality Exceeds Fantasy there is ample Malignancy-esque grinding riffs and technical ability, but without the ridiculous amount of pinch harmonics. Embryonic Devourment has complex, intricate riffing and song structures, with a phenomenally delivered drum performance that knows just the right times to blast and how to keep the fills fresh. And they don’t limit themselves to the grinding madness: the title track has an area which breaks down into latter-era Death‘s more reserved moments and "Woolded and Keelhauled" has a solo that fits right in with Nile‘s catchier moments. To top it off, album closer "Usurping the Secret Society" features some amazing musicianship, pulling out a performance that will appeal even to the most jaded tech death fans.

So maybe there was a reason why the Tony Koehl artwork looked so much like his other album cover. Nevertheless, Embryonic Devourment proved to be a worthwhile blind purchase. If you can’t wait another several years for new Malignancy material, Embryonic Devourment will keep you well-fed until then.

Review byNecro-tron