Once you start listening to Maze of Terror, there is no turning back from the unspeakable sounding chaos that comes insidiously blasting out the speakers like an inhumane entity crawling out of some starless void looking to annihilate humanity! The band’s unyielding brutality is on full display with the release of their second full-length release, “Offer to the Fucking Beasts.”
This trio of musicians from Lima, Peru combines such a plethora of ruthless sounding influences. I've reviewed a fair amount of bands from Peru and I must admit the passion that these bands have for extreme metal music is extraordinary. Each track is written with a profoundly sinister edge, so you never feel like the band is just going through the motions and cranking out painfully boring recycled riffs that were written by some shitty Metallica copycat band.
The opening track, “Priest of the Ancient Ones,” dives right into the Lovecraftian themed world which quite a few bands have explored before, but just like the bands before them Maze of Terror finds a way to create a fresh and merciless sounding world that grabs you instantly like the tentacles from a Lovecraft inspired beast. Maze of Terror blends old school death metal with face shredding thrash metal that reminds me a lot of bands like Messiah, Dark Angel and Cancer. I even hear some teutonic thrash influences like Kreator, Sodom and Exumer. The band overloads listeners with a tidal wave of agonizing arrangements, as well as some monstrous sounding vocals. There is so much raw and uncompromising energy in the band’s overall sound that each riff and blast beat sends a massive seismic shock through one’s ears.
The band continues the fiendish attack throughout the release by dealing out more cannibalistic pieces of extreme music like, “Blessed by Sickness and Death,” “Angels of Acid” and “Blood Horror Cult.” Honestly, the quality of the recording on the bass and how it compliments the hell fire sounding guitar riffs is what keeps you fully locked into each composition. I will say that sometimes I wished that the guitar parts would be a bit louder and give the music a larger sound and feel, but the bass tone throughout this release is what gives the album such a wicked sounding tone. Also, the thunderous sounding drum parts on this album are not to be overlooked, especially the way the drummer did those unbelievably quick and fluid drum fills on the song, “Death by Fire.” You wonder if the drummer is even human, or some entity from beyond sent to shatter our minds by playing with juggernaut sized force!
One of my favorite songs off of the album, “Starbeast,” mixes malevolent celestial sounding noises that get washed away by a cataclysmic guitar assault. Even though I have reviewed countless bands that play this style of music, I can always differentiate between the ones that get how to step outside the box by coming up with unique and dynamic sounding arrangements. I thought Maze of Torment did that for the most part on this album, especially with tracks like, “Starbeast,” and the album’s final song, “Shub Niggurath Awakes.”
Musically, I cannot complain too much about this release, because “Offer to the Fucking Beasts,” is exactly what you would want if you are a ravenous metal fiend looking for something truly devastating. Hopefully with future releases the band keeps building off of the ideas they put forth with this album, particularly the raw and bombastic sounding energy that they conveyed so well on this album. Highly recommend checking it out and I look forward to more music from Maze of Terror in the future, because after a release like this one, you need to keep the momentum going.
Check out the entire album below:
Maze of Terror Bandcamp:
https://mazeofterror.bandcamp.com/
Great review Robby, as all of your reviews are spectacular.
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