Review: Humanity’s End – Plague Of Cancers

Humanity’s End strike a familiar yet vicious chord with “Plague Of Cancers”. Hailing from Detroit and steeped in underground death metal, this album pulls no punches: gutsy riffs, raw production, and that unmistakable buzz-saw HM-2 guitar tone that marks its lineage clear as bone. The HM-2 chord-buzz is front and centre, charging through riff after riff with aggression and clarity. It sets the tone: this is death metal born of swing, groove, and ancient fury.

The opener wastes no time: guitars roar, drums crash, and the vocals summon the darkness with rasp and bile. From there the album stays in motion. Songs like “Dying Earth” lean into slower grooves where the HM-2 tone thickens into chainsaw rumble, drums dragging like mass on mass. “Behind the Ivory Robe” jolts forward with gallop and snarl, reminding the listener that this band knows how to shift tempo, how to wield rhythm as weapon. The entire record plays like a short lived siege: heavy, disciplined, pummelling yet measured. The mixture of mid-paced groove and bursts of speed gives it life beyond simple firing-line death metal.

Production is strong for its intent. The guitars cut through the mix with that hornet-buzz grind typical of classic Swedish death metal, the drums have weight without being over-triggered, the bass adds a cavity beneath the sound rather than being buried. It all feels alive, raw but refined enough to be listenable. That HM-2 tone is no gimmick here, as it’s the backbone. The choice to keep things compact, with songs that do their damage and move on, helps maintain momentum.

Still, “Plague Of Cancers” isn’t without its shortcomings. Its adherence to the formula, with buzz-saw HM-2 tone, mid-paced groove, occasional faster bursts means surprises are few. By the album’s midpoint the framework is clear and the novelty begins to fade. A few songs pull too much from the template without injecting fresh variation. Also, the shorter runtime means scope is limited; one or two tracks feel like they could have been developed further rather than moving on so quickly.

There are moments where you wish the band would push further: let a riff breathe longer, let the tension build rather than erupt, explore more variation in vocal tone or rhythm. The sound is excellent, but the architecture sometimes trades complexity for immediacy. That’s not a fatal flaw, as this record thrives on immediacy, but it does limit where it could have gone.

In the end, “Plague Of Cancers” is a confident album from a band clearly working in the shadow of giants but demanding their own place. If you love guitar tone that snarls, riffs that swing and crush, death metal that honours roots without being a pure tribute, this album delivers. It may not break new ground, but it affirms that this kind of underground death metal still hits hard, and that HM-2 tone still roars through the grave.