Four years on from The Outer Ones, Davidson returns with another matured refinement of fleshy metallic complexities, toying darkly atmosphere against angular aggression. The opening Diabolical Majesty embeds a soft warmth in tone and groove, grim melody flickers through flushes of entangled guitar menace as a beastly portrait is painted. Putting its greatest effort first leaves a bitter taste as the following songs suffer its shadow. Delving deeper into a tapestry of dexterous guitar work, attempts to pry apart Metal convention and piece it back together fall flat.
This terrorizing meld of Death, Prog and Thrash flounders as its supposed arcane architecture hits the treadmill of repetitious unpredictability. Twists and turns run amuck, losing sight of what makes a song stick. The endless labyrinth of riff work dispels its own madness. The brutal glumness of grinds dispels its sporadic flourishes of magic in the form of Davidson's incredible solos and occasional acoustics.
Netherheaven arrives on the heels of my despairing disappointment at Metal's continued stagnation. Despite once being my darlings for Metal's future, the years have rolled by with the band burrowing deeper into the road they've carved for themselves and I've frankly become bored with a lack of freshness. The endless wind of sinister riffs, throaty howls "technical" percussion becomes a dispassionate blur, completely unable to peak my interest on this outing. At least its opener had a spark!
Rating: 4/10