When you take blackened death and infuse it with a hardcore crust punk sound, Atrament is exactly what you will get. A lot of the crust and punk influenced metal bands have come to my attention over the years, but none of them hit the sweet spot more than Atrament did. Eternal Downfall is the first full-length record from the Oakland California band, and though it may be short, it’s a rowdy album, with a very fierce attitude.

No Beyond starts up the album in a death metal fashion, but riffs are played with a darker, hardcore punk-ish feel than I came to expect. They really have created an interesting hybrid between the two, but mainly this album feels more death metal than anything. Consumed feels like it comes to us from the early 90s death metal era, but the style this band emerges with is more of a rowdy death ride of crusty punk. There isn’t much heavy palm muting from the band, but sometimes they lay down the hammer of solid, boasting chords.

Wretched Apparition might be the most solid track found on here. It has the most rambunctious tune, with a hastened and unrelenting sound, but its ending brings out a different atmospheric black metal feel to polish the song off very nicely. A heavier song to delve into towards the album’s end would have to be World of Ash. Atrament keeps their hardcore punk alive, however this time riffs get a bit crunchier and neck jolting with this one, showing that they certainly know how to get flat out heavy.

Sometimes the album may become a bit repetitive, but what Atrament has done with their cross of crusty blackened death was definitely an easier way for me to get into a band that is driven by punk influences. Eternal Downfall is a good one to crank the speakers and really let loose the mayhem.