Metal Underground.com

Exuding an old school and underground aesthetic, Fiends at Feast is the sort of band that reminds metal fans of those heady early days when the scene was young, while still throwing in a few unique sounds to distinguish itself from its influences. The overall sound quality tends to be a bit rough and faded, but the mix of black and death metal effectively builds throughout the album to become something that grows on the listener.

With the exception of an unexpected acoustic segment, the opening title track is a fairly by-the-numbers song with basic ideas that have been the cornerstone of blackened death metal for years. It doesn’t particularly tread much new ground or blow away the audience with technicality or progressive elements, buts it remains solid and almost serves as a warm up for the band to move on to more interesting songs.

“Scars of My Soul” is much more atmospheric, giving off darker vibes before getting into the growling and shredding. The track becomes progressively more chaotic and layered as it moves along, as though the band members are working their way out of their shells. The bass starts to show itself more prominently, and it only becomes more prevalent throughout the rest of the album, which is always a welcome addition to any extreme metal record.

The track “Pariah” has a great discordant melody to it, melding the abrasiveness of extreme metal with a kind of evil fairy tale atmosphere. The vocals also seem to shift gears on this song, becoming more harsh and guttural. A couple of solo guitar-heavy segments show up as well, but it isn’t exactly done in a showy or flamboyant way. Album closer “The Devil’s Horns” may very well be the most headbang worthy track on the disc, and has probably started some truly chaotic pits at live shows, but unfortunately it gets rather repetitive while simply listening at home.

Fiends at Feast has got its specific style and lyrics down pat, and will certainly interest fans of satanic metal from years past. “Shadows of Extinction” is a promising start, and hopefully the band takes the same route as some of the groups it emulates, polishing the sound and expanding the musical ideas in new directions. Although fairly simplistic overall, the music will definitely find fans among the blackened death metal crowd.