Italian scene veterans in existence since 2007, Hideous Divinity have the kind of name that would put off the deathcore-phobic, afraid of accidentally stumbling into something unpleasant! Yet the band are much closer to technical death metal in sound, albeit with a grandiosity and sense of pomp that elevates them from the field. The likes of The Numinous One are lengthy and varied bursts of death metal, melodic but far from melodeath, preferring techy bass twangs and bursts of soloing to more obvious hooks, and definitely avoiding completely anything that could be called catchy. And although not quite at the level of recent output from, say, Cattle Decapitation, there's an air of chaos to Unextinct and the general blastbeat-heavy tempo that often makes it feel blackened, even if the music itself remains firmly in the death metal field.

What makes it a little harder to recommend is that, outside of the virtuoso soloing from guitarist Enrico Schettino (ex-Hour of Penance) there's not much to distinguish songs from each other on initial listens, at least. Six of the ten pieces here are well over five minutes long, including three over seven, and although caught up with an air of arrogant aural richness reminiscent of countrymen Fleshgod Apocalypse there's not that much really memorable about them. Atto Quarto, the Horror Paradox is one of the few exceptions, featuring guest vocals from Nile's Zach Jeter and having something of the Egyptologists' sense of drama as it rattles along and dips into brutal death metal territory at moments, also including some acoustic strums for added atmosphere. The slightly more straightforward Mysterium Tremendum stands out by doing more with less, too, retaining the sense of splendour but marrying it to an intense death metal assault, even if later in the track there is an ambient breakdown.

The overall sense is of a technical death metal band that is attempting something greater than just battering your head in, and honestly, for the large part Unextinct achieves that. As dense and disorienting as their sound is, there's definitely a sense of grandeur and richness even to lesser pieces like Against the Sovereignty of Mankind. Quasi-interludes such as Hair, Dirt, Mud and Der Verlorene Sohn add to this and help break the danger of monotony, the album's 51 minute length meaning that even solid pieces later in the tracklisting such as More Than Many, Never One have blunted impact. By the time you've reached eight minute finale Leben ohne Feuer it definitely feels like overkill and a slight repetition; less would certainly be more. Yet the band are definitely skilled, and those with a taste for a more epic and refined aural violence will find a lot to like with Hideous Divinity.