It's been four years since Aggravator snapped necks across the underground with the EP Unseen Repulsions, which gave a focused and brutal glimpse at the band evolving past simple '80s death/thrash worship into something darker and more individual. I was coming into this with high expectations, for this is a band that has yet to let me down, but rather than merely meet them, their latest album, Body Trench, decided to simply beat them into a bloody smear on the ground.

In terms of approach, Aggravator are still all about paying homage to the greats like Death, Malevolent Creation, and Slayer, just with a venom and intensity that is all their own that pushes into something more complex when it needs to. They make this damn clear with the opening title track, whose eruption of savage riffs and frenzied, militaristic precision hits like a blowtorch to the face. About half the album is dedicated to this kind of direct assault on the senses, and tracks like the Slayer-esque "Victims Succumb" and "Non-Receptive Frame of Mind," the relentless "Human Sediment" and "Fully Bled," and the savage yet technical closer "Bio-Sentience" are all face-tearing examples of how you fucking thrash people to death. The other half sees the band stretching themselves to do more than simply demolish ear drums, like the Spiritual Healing-esque "Creation's Dead Eyes," the violent tremolo carnage of "Visceral Inept," the suffocating intensity of "Wombs of Hatred," and the grooving, eerie mid-paced crusher "Sensory Void," all of which show dynamic and identity that the band hasn't really had until now. The more astute of you probably noticed I just named every track on the album, but this is a case where everything on display is so great that I can't bear to leave any of it out.

Performance-wise, the band has never sounded better. Derek Jones' snarling vocals cut through the mix with clarity and conviction like a honed jagged blade, and his rhythm guitar work locks in tight with the thick, anchor-heavy bass work of Tristan Hernandez. Mike Cortes is a fucking monster on the drums throughout, blasting tempos into high gear with ferocity while knowing when to slow down and add texture to the slower moments like rising smoke from a fiery ruin. The star of the show, however, is lead guitarist Austin Zettner, who delivers a flurry of chaotic solos and leads that range from deranged Hammon-esque squealing to startlingly intricate flailing that never sacrifices aggression for clarity, all of which leads the rest of the band into a fearsome, unstoppable charge.

I don't think I ever had any doubt that this band would deliver, but if I ever did, Body Trench eradicated any shred I may have ever had. Aggravator have sharpened their weapons and widened their scope, delivering a ripping, focused, and utterly ferocious album that deserves to be blasted at maximum volume.