Dormant Ordeal – Tooth And Nail

Written by on 17-04-2025 at 23:30.

It could quite easily have been that Tooth And Nail from Polish death metal formation Dormant Ordeal might never have seen the light of day. When founder and drummer Radek Kowal left the band in 2022, the remaining duo briefly considered calling it quits. This initial impulsive thought was eventually suppressed and the band set up shop and wrote a new album, despite the fact that they no longer have a permanent drummer. It’s here now… and quite one.

Tooth And Nail is, after It Rains, It Pours (2013), We Had It Coming (2016) and The Grand Scheme Of Things (2021), the fourth album by the band from Kraków. To fill the void of an absent drummer, Chason Westmoreland (Brand of Sacrifice, Burning The Masses, Demon King, Shrine of Skulls) was approached. Not only did he play all the drums, but he also did the drum arrangements with guitarist Maciej Nieścioruk.

Previous albums by Dormant Ordeal were full of idiosyncratic death metal. A flawless fusion of technical death metal, dissonance and blackened ambiance. Purposeful brutality, chaotic guitar lines, tremolos and technical ingenuity degenerated into merciless complexity, dissonant chord progressions and layered melodies. When it comes to Dormant Ordeal, Behemoth, Decapitated and Ulcerate are often mentioned as musical references. The menacing, black bitterness of Behemoth, the dissonant layered riffs of early Decapitated and the inventive fusion of controlled chaos and surprising patterns of Ulcerate can definitely be heard.

At Tooth And Nail, the band also offers a distinctive approach of death metal. Compared to the previous album The Grand Scheme of Things, the atmospheric approach, the blackened influences and high intensity have been preserved. Wild, dissonant riffs, unbridled energy, biting vocals and often a high tempo result in meandering compositions. For example, the fast, riff-driven Orphans is rooted in biting brutality, has a cutting speed and a continuous outburst on the drums. The somewhat more black-framed Horse Eater, on the other hand, is carried by an oppressive atmosphere. Again, the vocals mainly consist of a devastating roar; they are full of ferocity, sound authentic and they contain an enormous intensity. At the previous album we already heard some mystical lisping, this time the whispering is present more often and more emphatically, with which they strengthen the atmosphere (Solvent, Everything That Isn’t Silence Is Trivial).

In addition to the fact that Tooth And Nail is connected to the band’s musical past, there is also plenty of space for further development. The leaden power and the dogged, unbridled passion of the previous album meant that you sometimes couldn’t completely escape the feeling that you were being overwhelmed by a tidal wave of heaviness and speed, which sometimes seemed to have no end. By filling in the atmosphere at Tooth And Nail in a more refined and detailed way and by introducing more variation in the tempo used (read: building in more less paced moments), the band knows how to bring the leaden power in a more measured way.

Without losing any of the undeniable passion and intense ferocity, it could all be a little less hyper-energetic. For example, the drumming seems a little less focused on speed and therefor sounds a little less mechanical. The oppressive silence, the momentary complete absence of the music and the song being guided solely by spoken words (“Someone has to prove you can’t keep everyone silent.” in Solvent)? The fierce, energetic guitar at the end of Against the Dying of the Light and the howling wind that accompanies the song to its end? The acoustic beginning and the more controlled part halfway through Everything That Isn’t Silence Is Trivial? The refined nuances not only add detail and dynamics, but they also make the compositions sharper, richer and more balanced. But perhaps even more important; they add feeling and emotion (Solvent, Against the Dying of the Light). Needless to say, this suits the band very well? The title of the new album is a derivative of the English proverb ‘To fight tooth and nail’, which means something like fighting with everything you have. Songs like Horse Eater, Orphans and Against The Day Of Light are about conflicting feelings, internal struggle and/or the fight for survival.

Struggle is a theme that perhaps also applies to the band. Or should I say: applied? After all, how wonderful is it not to notice that the formation has overcome the inner doubt about its existence and come up with this fine new album. Tooth And Nail is quite obviously a Dormant Ordeal album, and at the same time a record that is not an obvious clone of its predecessor. This time, the band has managed to execute their sonic sequel even more refined, even more detailed and above all with even more feeling. Let there be no doubt: Tooth And Nail is a more than excellent album.

Score:

90/100

Label:

Willowtip Records, 2025

Tracklisting:

  1. Wije i Mary, Pt. 1
  2. Halo of Bones
  3. Horse Eater
  4. Orphans
  5. Solvent
  6. Dust Crown
  7. Against the Dying of the Light
  8. Everything That Isn’t Silence Is Trivial
  9. Wije i Mary, Pt. 2

Line-up:

  • Maciej Nieścioruk – Guitar
  • Maciej Proficz – Vocals
  • Chason Westmoreland – Drums (session drummer)

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