There are a few things we can count on in this life, death, taxes, and Pathology releasing a new record every few years. In their sixteen-year career, the Californian slam kings have pushed out a staggering twelve records! That automatically puts them in the conversation of the hardest-working extreme metal acts out there in the world. And here they are, like clockwork, with 2024’s Unholy Descent.

The record follows 2021’s The Everlasting Plague which I reviewed favorably here. I praised Pathology’s effort to move away from their trademark stompy caveman slam genre trappings and explore more technical songwriting, with even a smattering of melodic arrangements. In that regard, Unholy Descent feels like a step in a lateral direction.

Truth be told, I have always stayed away from the slammier side of death metal, as the chromatic chugs, blast beats, gurgled vocals, and hyper-violent/sexual imagery grated on me very quickly. Even so, respect must be put in the name of these San Diego stalwarts. They are always mentioned in the conversation of the early adopters of the genre back in the early 2000s. They have always added that special sauce to their sound that made them memorable even while staying within rather strict genre constraints.

It is that special sauce that seems to be missing, or at least, lacking enough spice with Unholy Descent. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great death metal record. It has aggressive riffs, fast drums, and vocals ripped straight from the deepest bowels of hell. The issue is that we are now jaded consumers of extreme metal. We who have been intoxicated by the genre for decades now need more than the standard fare to give us our high. And this record is sorely found wanting in that regard.

With thirteen tracks all clocking in at around the three-minute mark, Unholy Descent is one of the worst offenders of what I have been referring to as the “Red Mist” problem of extreme metal. While there is momentary enjoyment of the riffs and arrangements being consumed, very little, if anything stayed with me even after the track was over, let alone the record. I have listened to the record more than a couple of times, end to end, and I struggle to pull up even a single riff, lyric, or section from any of the tracks. The songs lack hooks that grab you when you first listen to them, and ones that stay with you hours, days, even weeks after you’ve heard the record.

Maybe this is a case of rose-tinted glasses, but I feel like The Everlasting Plague had more “staying power” or memorability in its songwriting when compared to Unholy Descent. This record feels like the complete mess of the run of records Lords of Rephaim, Throne of Reign, Pathology, and Reborn to Kill that nearly killed my interest in the band. Especially when Legacy of Ancients, Awaken to the Suffering and my personal favorite The Time of Great Putrefaction were absolute gigantic records. The keystone riff on “Tyrannical Decay” on Time is a riff I can still manage to hum and groove to from memory to this day, years after release.

Unholy Descent is a classic case of a competent record, but nearly soulless in its execution. As Pathology continues its journey away from caveman slam metal into more traditional modern death metal, the riffs have moved into incredibly well-trodden and stale territory. Other bands have done it before, other bands do it better. If Unholy Descent was the band’s debut record, they may have been praised for their mature and cohesive songwriting, but it would be ultimately a forgettable record and the band would have dropped out of all conversation quickly. For a veteran band with a catalog as extensive as Pathology, this sin of competent soulless mediocrity feels even more grievous.

The predictable alternation of blast-beat drums with tremolo-picked riffs and chromatic chugs gets old and boring very quickly. The true crime is that there actually are reasonably well-crafted string-skipped riffs, and instances of melodic chord work, but they are buried in such heaps of same-y riffs, and are never given a chance to enter the listeners’ lizard brain to become an earworm that they are also quickly lost in the murk. It is also a severe disadvantage that Pathology’s chosen vocal style works against them in this context. The band has always chosen the overly low register indecipherable growl and gurgle style of vocal delivery. With this kind of monotony, the riffs aren’t punctuated by memorable vocal deliveries or range switches, which further flattens any dynamic songwriting.

With bands like Ingested, Extermination Dismemberment, and Cytotoxin writing and releasing creative, crushing, and memorable slam death metal records, each with their own nuances, Pathology finds itself being quickly left behind by the new kids on the block.

Unholy Descent is a weak addition to the Pathology catalog. While a competently written record, its lack of memorability and originality belies the band’s veteran status. The band needs to seriously re-evaluate their songwriting choices and attempt to infuse much-needed innovation in their future release or they will be replaced by the many upcoming bands that spend more effort carving their own niche in an overcrowded genre.