UMUR "The Last Witness" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, Boston, Massachusetts based death metal act Zealotry. The album was released through Lavadome Productions in April 2016. Zealotry was formed in 2005 and released their debut full-length studio album "The Charnel Expanse" in 2013.

Stylistically "The Last Witness" pretty much continues the technically well played and relatively brutal death metal style of "The Charnel Expanse". It´s murky and often dissonant, it´s pretty chaotic, and relatively brutal death metal, and it´s artists like Immolation and to a lesser extent Incantation who come to mind. So the music features that distinct dark and twisted occult sound, which makes artists in this part of the death metal spectrum such an intriguing listen. The band are well playing and the sound production is also fairly well sounding. The material is slightly one-dimensional and bleak in nature and not many tracks stand out. Something which is further enhanced by the one-dimensional, unintelligible, and rather toneless growling vocals. Given enough spins the memorability level rises, but "The Last Witness" is not an easily accessible release. There are occasional changes to the sound when a guitar solo or an acoustic section breaks the chaotic dissonant monotony, but those moments are few and far between.

So upon conclusion "The Last Witness" isn´t a revelation and it´s as such not a very unique sounding release either, but it is well performed, well produced, and reasonably well written, which means that it´s enjoyable while it plays, but doesn´t stick much longer than that. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved though.

UMUR "The Charnel Expanse" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Boston, Massachusetts based death metal act Zealotry. The album was self-released in June 2013. "The Charnel Expanse" is both available as digital download and in physical CD format.

Stylistically the music on "The Charnel Expanse" is technically well played death metal of the more brutal kind. Because of the use of dissonance and the twisted riffing style I´m almost immediately reminded of Immolation and to a lesser extent Incantation. So this is definitely down the more chaotic, murky, and dark death metal path. The band are really well playing and obviously master both their instruments and the compositional characteristics of the genre. The vocals are a bit too one-dimensionally growling. They sound brutal and "evil" like they should, but there isn´t enough variation or aggression in the delivery. They don´t spoil the listening experience but they don´t add anything especially interesting to it either. They are just there. This is not unusual for death metal releases, and as such not a major issue, but it is an element in the band´s sound that could be improved upon...

...another is the sound production, which lacks a bit of punch and bite. When that is said the music still hits the listener with enough power for this not to become a major issue either. So all in all "The Charnel Expanse" is quite a great listen if you enjoy this type of technically well played, dissonant, and chaotic death metal even though the band still have a way to go before they enter the big league. They certainly have both the compositional qualities and the high level musicianship at their disposal to reach that goal. A more powerful sound production and slightly more aggressive vocals would probably be enough to do the trick. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.