Whoa, what a blast from the past! Burnt Offering being around for quite a while, and recording this opus for the newly formed SOD Records. And the resulting sound? Classic, classic death metal, sounding like these guys were frozen circa 1987 and just released upon a crowd discovering metal's "retro" years just now. Well, these walk the walk, spitting out monster riff after monster riff, Hal Shore's throaty vocals being from that beefy rock background, more like shouted words than throat grinding madness. What makes this work are the riffs and the bashing caveman style with which they're played. An interesting note is that there is NO double bass on this album, blasphemy in this day and age. But it works, Mitch being creative enough to fill inthe spots, but there are a couple of times where some mid-paced material screams for the double kicks. Cool to see someone going against the norm though, and who the hell would have thought to sample Sling Blade for their latest record? Here's also a perfect case where the music makes the packaging makes the music, Petagno's horrific cover totally capturing the vibe that the band was going for, a horrificly, crispy good time. Things get a bit redundant towards the last few tracks, but a killer disc to throw in and just bang your fucking head to, I must say.