Engulfed: Engulfed in Obscurity (2017)

One of the things I love most about listening to heavy metal is finding bands from unusual countries that one would not think would have a metal scene.  Metal has become such a worldwide phenomenon that scenes have sprung up in places like Africa and the Middle East among a ton of other places.  Here, we have Engulfed, the first band I have ever heard from Turkey.  Technically I have heard them before, I reviewed their 2012 EP several years ago, but this is the first physical release I have from a Turkish band and Engulfed was the first Turkish band I heard back then (somehow I have missed out on Cenotaph so far).  So now we have the band's first full-length.

I had to review my previous Engulfed review to refresh my memory a bit of the band.  Some time ago, the computer that I had that EP saved to crashed so I have not heard it for a long time.  I remember really liking it, which is why I decided to pick up the full-length.  One song appears on both, the ever-charming "Inseminated with Demon Seed". 

Engulfed takes on more of an old-school occult death metal sound.  The reference point I used in the last review and the one that is still the most fitting is Incantation.  The band pummels the listener with riffs and sledgehammer drumming.  The vocals are deep, demonic roars.  And engulfing (see what I did there?) everything is a hostile, hellish atmosphere. 

This is the band's debut full-length and it re-captures everything that made the EP so good, I'm pretty sure.  It has been awhile.  I am looking forward to hearing more from the band in the future.