Rather unknown in Europe, Pathology is not a new band: it was born in San Diego in 2006 and has released ten studio albums. After a period of turbulence, the band has been relaunched with a refreshed line-up around Dave Astor, drummer and leader of the band. "Reborn To Kill" was a first step in 2019 and the follow-up comes with "The Everlasting Plague" which sees the band signed to Nuclear Blast. Reading the albums name, the discerning listener will suspect that Pathology is evolving in death metal, in the brutal version of the genre, somewhere between Cannibal Corpse and Deicide.
Pathology delivers here a series of merciless tracks cast in a pure and hard death mold. 'Perpetual Torment', 'Engaging In Homicide', 'Procession Of Mangled Humans' and 'Visciously Defield' form the first big block that stuns the listener with a growl from the underworld, a rhythm of a rare intensity and an ultra-fast technique that impress. And as if the lesson wasn't strong enough, the band does it again at the end of the album with 'Submerged In Eviscerated Carnage', 'Corrosive Cranial Affliction' and 'Death Ritual Deciphered' carved from the same musical wall of sound. If the whole album had had this color, it would have been wearing and tiring. But beyond this brutal core, Pathology has the intelligence to offer a little variety and thus avoids wearing out its listeners. 'A Pound Of Flesh', 'Diseased Morality' and 'As The Entrails Wither', very convincing, mix raw death metal force with melancholic and melodic passages in the spirit of Dark Tranquillity. The band closes the album with a powerful and melodic instrumental ('Decompositon Of Millons') that shows a darker side under a confident technique.
With "The Everlasting Plague", Pathology relaunches its international career in a beautiful way. By knowing how to aerate its subject, he seems to have the weapons to attract the favors of a broad public.