adg211288 Turbulence from the Deep (2013) is the fourth full-length album by Malaysian death metal act Humiliation. Humiliation, despite only being around since 2009, have already built up a reasonable discography with Turbulence from the Deep being released not much more than a year since their last offering From Strength to Strength (2012), while they also have two EP's and a spilt with US act Decrepitaph under their belt.

Being so productive though can eventually have an effect on the quality of an artist's music and while I haven't had any experience of Humiliation before I think (or perhaps hope) that may be what has happened for these guys on Turbulence from the Deep. The album is a strictly by the book affair with absolutely no surprises or variation in style, that book being straight up death metal which reminds me of the UK's Bolt Thrower, especially due to Humiliation drawing on similar themes for lyrics. The music itself is relatively slow to mid paced, but without any hints of death-doom, generally lacking in melodic aspects, and topped off by a deep growl. With the exception of an acoustic outro, that's the formula you're going to hear almost every time with this one, and on Turbulence from the Deep that formula unfortunately sounds stale and uninspired.

The slow pace allows the listener to properly take in the riffs, but it's rare that those riffs are anything that even resembles remarkable. What lead guitar is used during the course of the release is tasteful however and serves to liven the album up from its usual deluge of monotony. The vocals are decent but lost of me due to the music itself lacking in the sort of intensity I expect to find in a death metal album. The writing itself never reaches being above average and it really a mixed bag between such almost decent songs like Phosphorous Shell, Sea Denial or Order of Battle, but also ones that just plod along or are even downright boring, as with Operation Obeo One.

The album overall isn't so bad that it isn't listenable at all, but the songs here are generally lacking in substance to make the album a worthwhile release. A few good ideas are in evidence while frontman Bear Bee proves himself to have a growl good enough to carry a death metal record, but at the end of the day I can't recommend it. A middle of the road rating is deserved.

53/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/humiliation-turbulence-from-the-deep-t3054.html)