True to its marketing, Born into Chaos sounds worlds apart from its predecessors. Gone are the lethargic stoner fuzz of Yatra’s debut and the thick sludge of All Is Lost. Yatra’s new game is caveman death metal, and much of Born into Chaos’ 38 minutes focus on clobbering the listener with riffs straight from the swamps of Gorbachev-era Florida. Within the confines of death metal, Born into Chaos finds room for some variety in its tempo and energy. In a nod to their sludgy past, the band inherits Autopsy’s tendency to slow down into grimy doom-tinged riffs, interspersing them with higher-energy sections. More unexpectedly, the faster parts of Born into Chaos border on death-thrash, a comparison made more salient by the resemblance of Dana Helmuth’s vocals to Skeletonwitch. Still, Yatra’s aim is to perform squarely within genre boundaries, not to redraw them.
Born into Chaos rocks harder than Yatra’s past work. The faster-paced riffs are irresistible headbanging fun à la early Morbid Angel, from the fiery opening salvo of “Death Cantation” through tracks like “Wrath of the Warmaster” and “Omens of Fire.” While these are unlikely to be the death metal songs of the year, they display a surprising talent for writing attention-grabbing hooks. On the other end of the spectrum, some doomier parts of the record are as infectious as their high-speed counterparts, often using slightly nonstandard rhythms to defy expectations and keep interest (“Terrorizer”). Yatra boasts a solid rhythm section, with Maria Geisbert providing a simple but stalwart bass backbone, and Sean Lafferty’s drums shifting among blast beats, tom fills, and simple OSDM beats to match the rest of the band. The album shines most when these strengths coalesce. “Terminate by the Sword” features Yatra at their best, using a concise four minutes to switch nimbly among vintage death metal, lively death-thrash, and sludgy riffs without once falling flat.
Despite the power of its riffs, Born into Chaos’ shameless repetition makes it a tough listen. Even the stronger tracks rely on introducing a small handful of riffs and recycling them too many times (“Death Cantation,” “Born into Chaos”), to the point of boredom. This is more glaring on the longer songs, all of which feel bloated due to their dearth of distinct ideas (“Wrath of the Warmaster,” “Terrorizer,” “Tormentation”). The album feels macroscopically repetitive as well; each track uses a cookie-cutter formula by laying out a couple of death metal riffs, repeating them a few times, throwing in a guitar solo for good measure, and concluding by rehashing earlier ideas. This lack of variety both within and between songs make it difficult to distinguish different parts of Born into Chaos or remember the album’s highlights. A pinch of dynamism would go a long way toward helping Yatra’s stellar ideas stand out in my mind.
Born into Chaos feels like an archetypal 2.5; the pieces are there, but they don’t quite come together. Yatra knows how to riff hard, and they don’t hesitate to do so. Their newfound brand of filthy death metal has immense potential, with punchy melodies that know the way to my heart. But Born into Chaos falters as an album, with excessive repetition and a shortage of climactic moments making it tough for me to be more excited. Yatra deserves praise for pulling off a large stylistic shift with impressive skill. While Born into Chaos may fall short of All Is Lost, I’ll still have an eye out for Yatra’s follow-up.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Prosthetic Records
Websites: yatradeath.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/yatradeath
Releases Worldwide: June 10th, 2022
