You may find similarities to bands like Gatecreeper, but Sentient Horror’s cohesiveness and assertion grasps the old-school spirit of Entombed and Dismember. They enjoy bombarding us with raw aggression and blasting the HM-2 distortion loudly; the riffing display may have a less melodic approach than other modern bands, making them unique. As a band, Sentient Horror has progressed from its debut full-length album “Ungodly Forms”. Their songs now focus on fewer melodies, preferring to keep it all nasty and raw in the opening salvo of the album “The Way of Decay”.

I am not certain if I have come across any old-school death metal as such if you want to brag about originality then you should look elsewhere, for Sentient Horror delivers straightforward abrasive riffs. The blast beats open the second track “Undead Mutation” capturing the blistering ferocity of the feral growls and drums; it’s terrific how the quartet manages to keep its style within the framework while being able to stretch it further.

In this context, the new album is different from the predecessor “Rites of Gore” which in my opinion was bluntly in the vein of Entombed’s first album “Left Hand Path”, and despite the diverse material of “In Service of the Dead” emphasizes on blast beats and grooves which highlights the material. “Mutilation Day” starts with a catchy melodic section, however, the transition to blast beats and the individual skills takes on a frenetic death metal direction.

The pure onslaught of the guitar riffs then delivers upbeat tempos on songs like “Cadaverous Hordes” is a kind of stomping drums, thunderous bass guitar, and propelling drum beats. The chainsaw guitar vibe hooks you to that trademark of classic Swedish death metal, there’s plenty of boasting to the riffing. The guitar solos are explosive with the riffing wired to the HM-2 distortion and grooving tempos before the riffing mayhem excursions continue in “The Tombcrusher”.

Every song on the album has a distinctive formula from the other songs, its tempos shifting from pulverizing mid-tempos emphasizing brutality. “Out of Sanity” and “Glory to the Rotten” offer raw intensity augmented by chugging and fabulous guitar skills, defining this album from the previous ones. Sentient Horror steered away from modern death metal acts and has tremendously put too much effort into diversifying its songwriting, the riffs for example stem from classics of Swedish old-school death metal.

The rhythm guitar, lead, and solos add to the production giving it an immense and powerful sound, the slower sections are vital, and these elements are innovative. The death’n’roll elements in the song “Born in a Morgue” tend to be clear, but the tremolo pickings and the not-stop pummeling of the drums are very close to Entombed and Dismember.

The album’s length falls short to thirty-seven minutes, only making it somehow shorter than the predecessor, most importantly Sentient Horror maintains the high-octane energy in the final tracks “Feeding on Fear” and the album’s title track “In Service of the Dead”. It is a four-minute track full of chainsaw death metal-crushing qualities; there are no melodies nor any wankery bullshit just balls-to-the-wall rawness.

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