UMUR "Chaos Revamped" is the 4th full-length studio album by Greek death metal act Sickening Horror. The album was released through Pathologically Explicit Recordings in June 2020. It´s the successor to "Overflow" from 2015 and as far as I can see, there haven´t been any lineup changes between the two albums. Sickening Horror​ formed in 2002 and released two albums featuring a technically well played but still old school oriented and relatively brutal death metal style, but with "Overflow (2015)" they suddenly sounded like a completely different band, playing a technical/progressive death metal style with fusion influenced drumming and occasional use of keyboards.

Stylistically the material on "Chaos Revamped" are mostly in a similar vein to the first two albums, but the music style is slightly more technically focused and a little more polished and less raw, than the old school oriented death metal style on the first two albums by the band. So in that respect you could say that "Chaos Revamped" is a combination of the band´s two styles. The most technical/progressive ideas from "Overflow (2015)" have been weeded out though, and there is a better balance between the old school death metal parts and more technical death metal ideas on "Chaos Revamped". Sickening Horror​ have not quite been able to recreate the claustrophobic, sick darkness of the early releases, but "Chaos Revamped" is still a pretty brutal and raw sounding death metal album. So in that respect the title of the album was well chosen and probably very much a conscious choice to signal a return to a more brutal and raw death metal sound.

"Chaos Revamped" features a brutal, raw and powerful sound production, which suits the material well, and the musical performances are on a high level from all involved. The vocals are growling and relatively intelligible, and to my ears it´s a good choice Sickening Horror​ have made to return to a sound that´s closer to their early style, as I can´t say "Overflow (2015)" convinced me that Sickening Horror​ had much of a future playing technical/progressive death metal. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Overflow" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Greek death metal act Sickening Horror. The album was released through Deepsend Records in March 2015. It´s the successor to "The Dead End Experiment" from 2009. Six years between albums is a pretty long time, and I was beginning to fear we had heard the last from Sickening Horror, but "Overflow" is now here to prove my assumptions of their demise wrong. There have been a couple of lineup changes since the last album though, so that might explain the long time between albums. Drummer Jose Theodorakis has been replaced by Vasilis Antipatis, and Andreas Karayiannis has been added as a second guitarist transforming Sickening Horror from a trio into a four-piece.

Sickening Horror played a technical yet still pretty old school and brutal type of death metal on their first two albums, but "Overflow" sees them take quite a left turn into progressive/technical death metal territory, and if I didn´t know better I wouldn´t have guessed that it is the same act playing on "Overflow", as the one playing on the first two albums. The band has added occasional piano/keyboards to their sound, progressive sections, fusion influenced drumming, and melodic guitar solos to their music and has generally incorporated an adventurous approach to writing music (although they still embrace regular growling vocals, and a fairly high level of brutality). In many ways it makes their music stand out a bit more than their earlier more standard sounding death metal releases, but the progressive nature of the material isn´t always natural sounding, and at times comes off as a bit forced.

It works pretty well on tracks like "The Day the Worms Became Kings" and "Fractal Maze", but there are other times when the tracks aren´t as well functioning. Overall the material is of a relatively high quality though and I would probably have rated "Overflow" pretty highly if it wasn´t for the rather cheap sounding production. To my ears it sounds a bit amaturish and home produced, and especially the clicky and lifeless drum sound ruins the listening experience. Thankfully both the high level musicianship and to a lesser degree the songwriting pull in the other direction and a 3.5 star (70%) rating isn´t all wrong.

UMUR The Dead End Experiment is the 2nd full-length studio album by Greek death metal act Sickening Horror. The album was released in September 2009 by Soulflesh Collector Records.

The music on the album is technical death metal with a sometimes progressive edge. Technical playing and progressive ideas never get in the way of raw power and brutality though, so first and foremost expect a raw and brutal death metal album. Since the excellent debut album When Landscapes Bled Backwards (2007) drummer George Kollias ( Nile, Cerebrum...etc.) has been replaced by Jose Theodorakis. Fortunately he lifts the heavy heritage with ease. Über fast double pedal work and generally high precision playing. The bass drums are triggered to hell and I´m not too happy about this, but it´s about my only complaint about The Dead End Experiment. George Antipatis handles guitars and vocals and Ilias Daras plays the bass like they did on the debut and they both do a great job. The vocals are brutal and sometimes even eerie sounding. They are pretty varied bearing in mind that they are growls. The basslines and the guitar riffs are technical and challenging and vary between fast riffing and open string chords with a dissonant sound. The dark atmosphere on the album is further enhanced by the occassional sound/ synth effect.

...And the atmosphere on the album actually needs a special mention. It´s one of the things that sets Sickening Horror apart from most other technical death metal acts. The band are capable at creating an eerie, cold and dark atmosphere and hooklines aplenty. The atmosphere on the album makes me think of sick, twisted experiments gone wrong. The Dead End Experiment is a great sophomore album by Sickening Horror and while I wouldn´t say it surpasses the predecessor, it´s just as excellent. Sickening Horror can now be upgraded from promising newcommer to established act. I trust the next album will continue the high quality of the first two. I find The Dead End Experiment highly recommendable and a 4 star rating is well deserved.

UMUR When Landscapes Bled Backwards is the debut full-length studio album by Greek technical death metal act Sickening Horror. The album was released in June 2007 by Neurotic Records/ Willowtip Records. When Landscapes Bled Backwards was produced by the band themselves and mixed by Neil Kernon ( Nile, Nevermore...etc.). The band were at this point a three-piece consisting of George Antipatis on guitars and vocals, Ilias Daras on bass and George Kollias ( Nile, Cerebrum...etc.) on drums.

The music on the album is technical death metal with a great dark atmosphere. The growls are deep and brutal but enjoyable to my ears. Somewhere between undecipherable and decipherable. The album features sporadic use of keyboards and sound effects which provide some dark/ ominous atmosphere. It´s fortunately never overdone and as mentioned the use of keyboards is only sporadic. The playing on the album is technical but never in an awkward way. The focus is always on power. Check out the fierce drumming by George Kollias. Once again he proves that he is one of the top drummers in the business. The short instrumental Virus Detected, is where the band live out their tech metal tendencies the most. Other than that ( and the short gloomy piano track All Perceived Nothing) most of the other tracks on the album are great technical death metal songs with loads of tempo- and time signature changes, blasting sections, dissonant Voivod like chords and a sense for memorability that´s rare in the genre. The fact that the album is only 35:43 minutes in length is another plus in my book. That the perfect length for music this demanding.

The production leaves a bit to be desired if you mostly enjoy clean/ clinical productions but it´s still powerful and enjoyable and maybe the more raw production even gives the album more atmosphere.

Many technical death metal albums feature excellent musicianship, but few actually feature great songwriting and memorable songs. When Landscapes Bled Backwards fortunately feature both great technical playing and an emphasis on writing memorable and brutal death metal songs. This means that my listening experience has been a greatly enjoyable one and When Landscapes Bled Backwards fully deserves a 4 star rating. Sometimes even a 4.5. I find this album highly recommendable for fans of technical death metal.