To stand out in the underground after being in the game for so long is an accomplishment that I feel isn’t given nearly enough credit for what it signals. It’s all well and good to demonstrate a tremendous understanding of your craft on an album-by-album basis, but what does it mean to dominate your particular style for decades on end hardly without a sign of wavering or trembling before incredible odds? That’s something not many can boast even as the horizons of the underground stretch well into infinity. For two decades now, Total Annihilation has been living up to their name, and it’s with their fourth album that they’ve proven to be just such an act that is a true exception as they continue their ongoing offensive of vicious death metal.

If you ask me, growth is as important to a band’s journey as any other factor that may come to mind whether it’s creativity, authenticity, or intent. But without growth, stagnation is likely all that comes next. To stay in one place for too long is a tragic waste of one’s potential, and it’s an unfortunate fate that far too many have succumbed to as the years have rolled on. Yet, Total Annihilation has managed to avoid such a tragic destiny over their twenty-year career with the arrival of “Mountains of Madness” that we get what’s arguably the band’s strongest effort to date with their heavily thrash-infused strain of death metal singularly unrelenting throughout every single minute of these eleven tracks. An eclectic bunch of songs that sees Total Annihilation grind things to a halt in grand displays of power as well as bursts of fury that clock in under a minute altogether, it’s these forty minutes that Total Annihilation shows us just how adept with their craft they’ve become over the years. Surviving more than a few line-up changes that could’ve easily spelled the end of the band, “Mountains of Madness” held nothing back to stand not just as a testament to what happens when death metal is given the space and freedom to stretch its tentacles out to assault your flesh and spirit in many different forms, but as eleven stark reasons why the power of Total Annihilation is not to be underestimated in the slightest.

Where many might dig their heels into the earth and double down on what they’ve already proven to be good at, it’s clear throughout this performance that Total Annihilation sought to challenge itself to become something more.  Fueled by such passion for their craft and an undeniable drive to pursue their vision to the fullest, “Mountains of Madness” stands tall and stalwart as a bastion of death metal unbound that’s not easily stopped once it gains momentum.

“Mountains of Madness” releases on January 16th via Testimony Records!

LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Mountains of Madness” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Total Annihilation on Facebook here.

FOLLOW Total Annihilation on Instagram here.