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The Harrowing is the second album from Spain's Devotion and, if their debut is anywhere near this good, I'll certainly need to check it out. Lots of bands are doing the old-school death metal thing and Devotion are one of those really doing a great job. The Harrowing is chock-full of h-e-a-v-y, crushing, pounding death metal that mostly hovers in the slow to mid pace with a few faster bits here and there. The growls are deep and haunting as hell, which makes them a great match for the dark and eerie atmosphere that envelopes this nice slab of top-notch death metal. Without sounding like Nile, the feeling I got listening to this was akin to that of when I heard Black Seeds of Vengeance way back in 2000—I thought that album sounded fucking evil at the time, and so does this one. I wouldn't call the songs here catchy, but I've found a few of them quite memorable, sometimes musically, sometimes just the dark vibes that they convey. The artwork says it all. More of this, please!