When Within in the Ruins released Pehenoma over 10 years ago, I thought they were still a dime a dozen death metal bands. With the release of their sequel, phenoma II, I can say they have really paid their dues to make themselves a well-established metal act. With bold, crushing vocals, tight and energetic drumming, heavy bass, and of course the star of the band, the super technical and detailed riffs, these guys have definitely worked hard to carve out their own unique style of metal. The band's biggest strength at times kind of be its biggest weakness, and that is with the guitars. The super technical riffing gives the band its very unique sound and flavor, for sure. From either intense strumming to highly detailed guitar scaling, you can pick up their signature sound in no time. However, with the heavy reliance and with how long the songs are, the unique style can get a bit overwhelming. So when the guitars would just do some simple groovy riffing that wasn’t technically it felt like a nice break before going back to those technically riffs. It's a weird doubleedge sword with these riffs because with them the band is super unique, but you can get burned out, but if they weren’t there, I don't think the band would be this big. The drumming gives the songs a nice punch, especially when he starts playing with the cymbals a lot. The way the cymbals just add that extra touch to things is super enjoyable. The bass playing puts in that extra heaviness to the songs, like on tracks like “Death Mask” and “Enigma II." The vocals never really did a bad job of sounding big and nasty, but I would have to say I was disappointed there were no clean vocals on this record. I think the clean vocals from their previous albums really gave them a nice and refreshing sound. The production on here is produced really well, like the guitars. Everything is layered out nicely, and so the record sounds phenomenal. Since it's a sequel to an older album, I don't think they would try and be too innovative here and just try and recapture that old sound, and they do, and it's enjoyable.