DECROWNING at it's core, is progressive death metal. By that I mean, it's comparable to Sentenced, Amorphis, and to a lesser extent, Nevermore. That tag is a bit misleading though, as Amoral intertwine exploratory elements throughout these 10 songs. On the one hand, they have all the midpaced plod and churning aggression of death down to a science, on the other hand they have a keen sense of melody and hooks coupled with fantastic guitar work and cleanly sung vocals. If I had three hands, which Amoral seem to have, I'd also throw in some traditional nods to bands such as Fates Warning, Iron Maiden and even early Queensryche. Bottom line, the influences abound and you can definitely pick them out, but this is an ambitious and enterprising approach.

"Lacrimal Gland" and "Drug of Choice" are the tracks that caught my attention, but if I had to pick the best one here, I'd go with the album closer "Bleeder". If I am being particularly nitpicky, then I can say that not one single song on this is bad by any means, and they all flow together to make a complete album. Poland and Sweden may be the heralded kings of technical and majestic death metal, but they may not want to kick back and relax one bit once they hear this. DECROWNING owns you.