Hailing all the way from Greece, Plague are a death metal band who’s been active in the scene for quite sometime and have unleashed a monstrous release with 2020’s Redefining Darkness Records release of Portraits Of Mind. From it’s morbid and malice styled compositions, percussive rhythms, excellent craftsmanship skill and simplicity that offers eerie solos, stellar musical components, violent drums and capturing a quintessence throughout the 90’s style of death metal reminiscing of Death and Massacre, the music here being displayed is ultrasonically brutal and keeping the dynamics steady and flowing without losing it’s distortion and performance.
When you think of Greece, you think of bands ranging from Rotting Christ, Septicflesh, Dead Congregation, Inveracity, Mass Infection, Human Serpent and Lucifer’s Child, Plague are perhaps one of the sickest artists to come out of the underground music scene and the wide variation Greece has as a whole is well spread out and can I just say the artwork done by Paolo Girardi who’s responsible for the most authentic styled album artworks I’ve seen in recent memory really is detailed and amazing in its own way? But the music, the production, lyrical content and extremities are just flawless and almost crafted to perfection. Just when you hear moments such as Cave Of Vectors, Mind Control and Shattering The Illusion has these black metal tendencies and gives the atmosphere that eerie, raw, torturous and bleak sounding arrangements that punishes the listener to travel back in time during the 90’s as this album manages to keep the old school death metal formula alive and kicking.
Every track not only is extremely accessible, progressive, dynamic and heavy but it keeps the tempos, sections, layers and the technical prowess makes the members of Plague play fluently and has everything death metal fans dreamed of. Portraits Of Mind promises to bring the most serviceable, accessible, memorable and highlighted albums of 2020 that’ll carry the torch for death metal and old school back to it’s roots for generations to come.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
