Death metal was not supposed to be like this. Over the course of the genre's 30-year history, no band has bent the rules so masterfully yet abided by its tenets so dutifully like Rome-based squad Hideous Divinity. On their fourth full-length (first for new home Century Media) "Simulacrum," the Italians open portals to new blood-curdling dimensions via profane riffs, superb drumming, and frightful vocals. "Our previous album, "Adveniens," marked a clear turn towards a darker, heavily black metal influenced perspective," says Hideous Divinity axemaster Enrico Schettino. "We felt we had to become something more than 'that cool technical death metal combo from Italy.' "Simulacrum" took this musical concept and brought it to a new level."Of the 12 songs on "Simulacrum," the inverted cover of Mayhem's "Cursed in Eternity" and the super-good death metal interpretation of Machine Head's "Blood of the Zodiac" should offer the listener middle ground, but they don't. Hideous Divinity offer the savagest ends of the spectrum (and the dreadful in between) on "Simulacrum." Songs like "Deleuzean Centuries," "Anamorphia Atto III," "Bent until Fracture," and "Implemini Exitio" are full-blown views into the insanity of death metal beyond the abyss. "We are a death metal band and we will never stop being it," Schettino asserts. "It permeates our way of doing things. From recording an album to the way we jump onstage and face the crowd. In a way, that is sometimes beyond our comprehension and will."The future is ominous. What's in front of us will haunt us for eternity. "Simulacrum" is the soundtrack to what we fear the most. Bask in its magnificence! "I'd like fans to walk away with the sense that they've discovered something new," says Schettino. "Something crushing and atmospheric at the same time. I'd like them to see the ghost that is haunting us