As an avid album collector and audacious metal fan, it's hard to find a devastating beast of an album these days that's not on the brink of sounding like some juvenile screamo whine-fest made from some chaps in their mom's basement. But after listening to The Conjuration Of Vengeance (how much more metal can that title be?), a gut-busting release by Buffalo, New York-bred death metal gods-in-the-making Sons of Azrael, all hope was not lost.

The rolling thunder of the drums, the devastating guitar lines, and the burning pulse of the bass plague the blood fire that is The Conjuration Of Vengeance, and for the summation of the album, Sons of Azrael strike down an extreme assault on the senses. The governing belly-splitting vocals range between guttural growls and high-pitched, but hostile, wails, and the surging guitars cut and slash in bitter agony (key tracks: "Trail of Flesh," "Scent of a Dead Whore," "Sweet Blasphemy," and "The Wrath).

It's one of those rare finds (and a record that deserves a review akin to its aggressive sweeps) where the roaring blasts of the guitar and tribal beating of the drums comes screaming out of pure metal mayhem, enough to rock you back into Lucifer's lair. The Conjuration Of Vengeance doesn't tremor like Thor's hammer striking the steel (such as Viking metal's finest outfits, Doomsword) but it does crush like a rusty ball peen hammer to the face.

This fist of judgment is definitely not for the faint of heart.