#atmosphericdeathmetal — Public Fediverse posts

Viande – Monument aux morts Review

As I snatch their sophomore, Monument aux morts from the jaws of the dormant Shark, the irony of…
#NewsBeep #News #Music #2026 #3.0 #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BlackMetal #DeathMetal #DoomDeathMetal #DoomMetal #Entertainment #FrenchMetal #Incantation #Jul26 #Monumentauxmorts #PraisethePlague #review #Reviews #Thantifaxath #TranscendingObscurityRecords #UK #Ultha #UnitedKingdom #Viande
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/722365/

As I snatch their sophomore, Monument aux morts from the jaws of the dormant Shark, the irony of reviewing an act called Viande1 as a vegan is not lost on me. Fortunately, the meat they’re serving is of the metaphorical kind—brutal, nasty, chewy. After L’Abime dévore les âmes saw all souls eaten, a Monument to the dead comes in comiseration castigation for the misstep into that abyss. At first blush, Monument aux morts seems to follow also in its predecessor’s grimy doom-death-black stylistic tracks; but there’s more to the descent this time. Coming four years since Viande first crawled out of the earth, can it strike the death blow its predecessor narrowly missed?

Monument aux morts changes little about Viande’s culinary style, continuing to draw heavily from the Incantation school of death metal, though now with more prominent disorienting flourishes that vividly recall Thantifaxath (“Sacrifice Ardent,” “L’homme Brasier”). The atmospheric side leans closer to that of Praise the Plague—grand and menacing—on the slower end (“Linceul Immense,” “Une cage d’os”), and Ultha on the faster—vocals excepted—(“Germes de mort”). Together, these create a darker and more dissonant offering which in turn makes the omnipresent echo and whines of feedback that bleed tracks together feel even more smothering. Dense and heavy at fast as well as moderated tempos, Monument aux morts succeeds in creating a persistent aura of horror even as it wavers before the threshold of total envelopment.

Viande’s ability to unsettle has improved, thanks to deeper, more nuanced compositions. Guitars snake ominously and twist themselves into ever more gut-wrenching patterns (“Sacrifice ardent,” “Germes de mort,” “L’homme brasier”), whilst tremolos also slip more often into an eerie shiver (“Linceul immense”). The pervasive atmosphere uses reverb intelligently, without detracting from each song’s momentum, and often pulls in the horrifying sounds of screams (“Sacrifice ardent”) and strange synthetic whines (“L’esprit cachot”). Malevolent minor melody bleeds in as a short-lived, swaying foothold in the mire (“Une cage d’os”) of churning scales or feedback. Amidst the chaos, oddly compelling grooves take hold (“Linceul Immense,” “Cercueil de vase”). The culmination of these aspects is a consistently frightening texture, which peaks when it all combines to form thrilling, even darkly beautiful, shapes that step outside of a clear (sub-)genre boundary. At these times, Monument aux morts ceases to be merely a punishing, dirt-choked slab of blackened death-doom,2, but a consuming miasma of discordant scales and impossible drums (“Sacrifice ardent,” “L’homme brasier”), or a rippling, oddly mesmerising chasm driven deeper through layers of rhythm and almost-melody (“Monolithe de chagrin,” “L’esprit cachot”).

And yet, Monument aux morts fails to maintain the vice grip on the listener it periodically holds. This is partly down to production that’s fittingly crushing and filth-encrusted for the album’s brutal death leanings, but thereby flattens the more prominent atmospheric side. Aside from above-noted highlights, and the odd sharp turns into the unusual, the majority of Monument aux morts’ eight movements progress along the same lines. The shared components—lurching from resonant tremolos into gallops, retreats to minimalistic whining and half-present drums, recurrent sludgy stomping—are effective in themselves. The issue comes with their repetition across a runtime that approaches an hour, where overlapping song transitions cause things to blur still further into an indistinct mass.

Viande are getting closer to the masterwork of horror they suggest they’re capable of. Despite being longer, Monument aux morts holds a more commanding presence than their debut and the germs of dark brilliance have grown to larger aspects that are truly gripping when they take over. All that remains is for Viande to stitch them together and give them the richer master their depths deserve.

Rating: Good
DR: 63 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: July 31st, 2026

Fallujah - Xenotaph

https://fallujah.bandcamp.com/album/xenotaph

#atmosphericDeathMetal #deathMetal #metal #progressiveMetal #techDeath #sanFrancisco

VOIDSPIRE (Noruega) presenta nou EP: "Vacant Towers" #Voidspire #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Novembre2025 #Noruega #NouEp #Metall #Metal #MúsicaMetal #MetalMusic

JADE presenta nou Split: "Heaven's Gate / The Hidden Crypt" #Jade #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Setembre2025 #NouSplit #Metall #Metal #MúsicaMetal #MetalMusic

Also for #ThursDeath:

#CultBurial: Collapse of Pattern, Reverence of Dust

https://album.link/i/1824873472

#AtmosphericDeathMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal

FFO #DevenialVerdict #Dischordia #Olkoth

Athmospheric Death Metal!!!

NIGHTBEARER - 'Defiance' by @nightbearer_official & @testimony_records

#linsedunemanninen
#intensemusic
#DeathMetal
#oldschooldeathmetal
#atmosphericdeathmetal
#melodicdeathmetal
#metal
#heavymetal
#metalpunksteel
#speedmetalpunks
#vinyl
#vinyllovers
#vinyllover
#project
#projectdebutcarbonevo
#greenbeast
#försterplayer
#försterspieler
#harzmountains
#Harz
#einharz
https://www.instagram.com/p/DLsb_Zhs5tm/?igsh=MXBsYWx3NmhoYnNocA==

Fallujah – Xenotaph Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Whatever mood suits you—perhaps none at all if you prefer deathly excursions of the older and fetid variety—Fallujah’s alien guitar identity consistently earns them a notch on the altar atop many a post-The Faceless tech death connoisseur’s mantle. Yet, the path that Fallujah walks has not always been one of extreme innovation. Rather, in spindly idiosyncrasies and heavyweight melodic ripples, the California riffslingers have whipped their way from roots in crushing yet entrancing death metal (The Harvest Wombs, The Flesh Prevails), through increasing gazey atmospherics (Dreamless, Undying Light), and into a flexed, teched out expression of all their past lives (Empyrean). And in that same vein of iterative development within a crystallizing, whammy-fluid style, Xenotaph looks to enrich the treble palate of a wanting audience.

Taking pleasure in the brighter vibrations of an extended-range string supply, founding guitarist Scott Carstairs, in closed-eye bends and chord quivers, defines the breathy ambience of Fallujah’s jittery developments. Not world’s away from 2023’s Empyrean, Xenotaph finds a harmonic shell in lush guitar layers that skirt the line between deep atmosphere and technical bounce. And breezing through with a trim song set that navigates a bevy of Cynic-coded trickling riffage (“Labyrinth of Stone,” “The Crystalline Veil”) and kick-saturated sprints (“Kaleidoscopic Waves,” “Xenotaph”) alike, Fallujah weaves a through line of sticky guitar candy. Returning vocalist Kyle Schaefer continues to be a chameleonic—if polarizing to the oldest fans—presence that stitches with aggressive, pitched yells, towering, gruff barks, and glistening, melodic core cleans, allowing Xenotaph to saunter down a familiar but kindly bent road.

In turn, guitar pyrotechnics come stock in the Fallujah package. Carstairs and new recruit Sam Mooradian (Inhale Existence) use their fiery and slippery talents to skew Xenotaph toward flypaper melodies and crunchy atmosphere rather than directionless, shreddy excess. Whether at the twinkle of gentle reverb on clean drives (“In Stars We Drown,” “A Parasitic Dream,” “The Obsidian Architect”), dancing play of panning refrains (“Kaleidoscopic Waves,” “Step…,” “Xenotaph”), or furious tremolo-bouncing riffage, this well-practiced duo makes every stutter-loaded passage feel buttery. In response, the inherent wandering nature of a soundscape that threatens the relaxing alien jazz of a Holdsworth1 finds a grounded landing in Thordendal (Meshuggah, Fredrik Thordendal‘s Special Defects) solo bleating (“Xenotaph”) and the kind of staccato The Faceless riffage that has defined a generation of low-gain, techy endeavors. In a slight step back on the production front, Xenotaph sees bass virtuoso Evan Brewer (Entheos,2 ex-Animosity) relegated to popping backing on skronky chord stabs, muffled boom alongside pitter-patter kick, and light rumble accent. The Otero compression method does succeed, though, in ensuring that each and every guitar passage cuts and twirls and dives with all the precision required to bore deep into a tablature-gawking mind.

Even if some tones find too much restraint, the endless and lush guitar layers that scaffold Xenotaph add to a rewarding, repeatable listen. While Fallujah hasn’t ever dabbled fully in the concept album world, recurring melodies flicker and warp and recontextualize throughout, tying tight pseudo-suites between Xenotaph’s strongest moments (“Labyrinth…” through “Step…,” “A Parasitic Dream” through “Xenotaph”). With this kind of blended and moment-blurry track timeline, though, placing an exact finger on the pulse that penetrates through to memory can be tough. It’s easy to get stuck in which rapid fire kick run3 was it that built tension before a wild solo, or which bent and wobbled dreamy lead carried that choppy riff to another choppy riff or which breakaway melodic chorus punched away to a meditative bridge. But Fallujah revels in extreme detail—the choral recollection that both opens and closes Xenotaph in loop, the chewiest melodic chorus this side of peak Tesseract (“The Crystalline Veil”), the flippant vocal modulations that run wild (“Labyrinth…, “The Obsidian Architect”). In novel pleasantries, Xenotaph finds a comfortable and developmental home.

Fallujah wears a collected calm and fun that can be hard for a veteran tech act to maintain. In Carstairs’ unique and effortless play—the backbone of all this act’s modern efforts—high note count riffage and solos find space to expand and nestle, and flourish. And in his reliable supporting cast, one seemingly cultivated of friendship, Xenotaph follows that same sentiment despite seeing Fallujah again fall into modern production stylings that raise more philosophical sound debate than I’d prefer. But if these are the kinds of questions Fallujah has to ask of their sound to keep growing, I’m content to bear witness to the fruits of their particular brand of floating and flamboyant internal dialogue.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Nuclear Blast | Bandcamp
Websites: fallujah.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/fallujahofficial
Releases Worldwide: June 13th, 20254

#2025 #35 #AmericanMetal #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Cynic #Entheos #Fallujah #Jun25 #Meshuggah #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ProgressiveMetalcore #Review #Reviews #TechnicalDeathMetal #TheFaceless #VvonDogmaI #Xenotaph

Découvert live vendredi dernier : Siderean. De superbes ambiances sonores, vraiment vraiment chouette, je recommande chaudement !

Siderean - Emerald Age

https://edgedcircleproductions.bandcamp.com/track/emerald-age

#AtmosphericDeathMetal #DeathMetal #Metal

Jade – Mysteries of a Flowery Dream Review

By Owlswald

Dreams are a gateway into the unconscious, a space where thoughts and emotions flow freely. They reveal what we often conceal, offering a unique and often unsettling insight into our inner worlds. Barcelonian quartet Jade explores this very terrain with their sophomore album Mysteries of a Flowery Dream. Emerging with 2018’s Smoking Mirror EP, Jade forges an atmo-death sound rooted in early death, doom, and black metal, fusing it with the dark and melancholic atmospheres of contemporaries like The Ruins of Beverast and Bølzer. Their 2022 debut, The Pacification of Death, plunged listeners into obscure depths with heavy, bleak, and hypnotic arrangements plastered with charismatic guitar melodies. 2024’s split EP with Sanctuarium, The Sempiternal Wound, followed, adding an aura of the occult to Jade’s nightmarish death/doom/black framework. With Burke’s visceral Ixchel portrayal adorning the cover,1 Jade now navigates the intense and dreamy dialogue between conscious and subconscious states with Mysteries.

Characterized by dark, murky and oscillating arrangements, Jade’s immersive sound reaches new heights on Mysteries. While not overtly technical or flashy, Mysteries’ enhanced atmosphere and sonic depth build upon The Sempiternal Wound, highlighting Jade’s superb songwriting. Oppressive, swirling tremolos and grimy palm-muted drawls meld with deep, thundering rhythms and fiendish growls to saturate lucid and dramatic songs with a sense of desperation. Opposing these haunting manifestations are stretches of defiant melodicism, with charming doom (“Darkness in Movement,” “The Stars’ Shelter”) and power-tinged (“9th Episode”) leads and solos that defuse Mysteries’ prevailing darkness with emotive force. J.’s bellowing and grandiose clean vocal passages—reminiscent of Sulphur Aeon’s M. and Ihsahn—add ephemeral surges of anguish and ethereality that lift one above the shadows. Although Jade’s sound may appear somewhat modest at first blush, Mysteries is a sensory-rich experience that demands patience but is well worth your time and attention.

Jade has precisely composed each of Mysteries’ seven tracks to guide one through their feverish vision. The album’s structure holds together extremely well thanks to excellent songwriting. Jade masterfully employs recurrent themes and soaring guitar leads and solos, seamlessly weaving Mysteries’ forty-three minutes into a unified entity. Swirling occult-like chanting and drum thrashes on “Shores of Otherness” underpin harmonious guitar swells while “Light’s Blood’s” robust and ascendent notes rise amidst spells of high-low tremolos. The classic Pink Floyd-enthused solo on interlude “The Stars’ Shelter (II)” soars above dark reverberated arpeggiations, contributing to Mysteries’ overall unity even as it explores different stylistic territory. Like different images of one mysterious and unsettling dream, Mysteries elicits a keen sense of cohesion. Yet, this doesn’t come at the expense of variation. “9th Episode” displays a galloping, urgent cadence with a meaner, anxiety-ridden edge while “The Stars’ Shelter (II)” offers a crucial moment of respite with its crestfallen touch. Through meticulous construction and contrasting elements, Jade has crafted an album that is cohesive and dynamic in equal measure.

For Jade’s caliber to shine, the album’s production better be on point and thankfully, Mysteries delivers in spades. Sounding vast and dynamic in my headphones, the vivid master illuminates every facet of Jade’s dream-like world. With guitars at its core, the mix carves out ample space for the supporting instrumentation to showcase their worth. As a result, each listen feels as exciting as the next—A testament to Mysteries’ complexity and sophistication. However, this intricacy also presents a challenge for passive listening. Despite its quality, I initially found Mysteries rather mundane and predictable due to the album’s similar traits blurring tracks like “Darkness in Movement” and “A Flowery Dream” together. But much like the gradual awakening from an intense dream, Mysteries’ hidden appeal surfaced once I gave it my undivided attention. From that point, my impressions quickly evolved into appreciation, and I found myself drawn back to Mysteries’ surreal world with regularity.

Demanding a conscious presence, atmo-death fans would be remiss to overlook Mysteries. Though Jade’s sound may seem ordinary at first, the sheer density and weight of Mysteries’ intricate sound takes time and patience to decode. But those who actively immerse themselves in Jade’s expansive world will be handsomely rewarded. The excellent songwriting, replete with its cohesion, balance, and dynamism, is impressive, steadily shifting my initial apathetic impressions to genuine appreciation. So don your finest headphones, sit bac,k and let Jade immerse you in their dreamlike world.

Rating: Very Good!
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Pulverised Records
Websites: emperorjade.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/jadestonemask
Releases Worldwide: May 9, 2025

#2025 #35 #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Bolzer #DeathDoom #DeathMetal #Ihsahn #Jade #May25 #MysteriesOfAFloweryDream #PinkFloyd #PulverisedRecords #Review #Reviews #SpanishMetal #SulphurAeon #TheRuinsOfBeverast

JADE presenta nou àlbum: "Mysteries of a Flowery Dream" #Jade #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Maig2025 #NouÀlbum #Metall #Metal #MúsicaMetal #MetalMusic

Hades Rising – Chaos Review

By Killjoy

Hades Rising is a testament to the power of camaraderie. Originally formed in Greece by Bill Written as an atmospheric death metal project, he soon moved to Tromsø, Norway where he released a promising but unpolished self-titled album in 2017 and an EP As Frost Takes Over in 2018. Not long afterward, Juan Vazquez Garcia joined him on guitar and songwriting, while also helping to sustain morale amidst years of member turnover and no less than three rewrites of the material that now makes up Chaos. Their hard work and perseverance paid off, culminating in a finals appearance in Wacken Metal Battle Norway in 2023. And now, a year later, Chaos arrives with a plucky statement of intent to break into the symphonic death metal scene.

Hades Rising chose an unusual spot to set up camp in the burgeoning realm of symphonic-tinged metal. The plentiful orchestrations certainly help to build dramatic tension, however, they are used more for garnishment than substance. The result is something like Fleshgod Apocalypse with much of the bombast stripped out and replaced with the intimate melancholy of Fires in the Distance. This may sound paradoxical on paper, but Hades Rising generally pull it off well. The majority of Chaos settles comfortably in medium tempo with far fewer blast beats than one might expect from death metal. There are small forays into melodeath (“The Paradox”) and black metal (“The Voyage”) which add flavor without detracting from the overall consistency.

Chaos is at its strongest when there is a conscious effort to craft a deliberate tone. This is best exemplified by “One with the Murder,” a dabble with death-doom, where the slower, more deliberate pace favors the minimalist orchestral compositions. Where compositions tend to falter is when they attempt to prop up extended guitar chugging in the two opening tracks “Spiraling” and “The Obscurity of Life.” Thankfully, moments like these are rare as the record progresses. Most songs contain some form of instrumental break which, in a strange twist, is what I look forward to the most. They range from gentle tremolos (“The Obscurity of Life”) to intrepid guitar solos (“Chaos”), lending nuance to the rich emotional atmosphere.

Sadly, a few traits dull this attention to detail in the songwriting and make Chaos feel more homogeneous than it is. The first is the programmed drums. While it’s understandable why a small independent band would use it, their increasingly grandiose aspirations mean that they are outgrowing the drum machine.1 More problematic is the overreliance on Bill Written’s deep, rumbling death growls that seldom vary in pitch and are a bit too loud in the mix. He has a fantastic singing voice but only uses it in “The Voyage” and “Lay Your Head.” The latter in particular sees Hades Rising firing on all cylinders to close out the album, featuring double-tracked vocals and nifty bass and guitar solos, and it’s unfortunate that this level of variety didn’t permeate the material that came before. All of this makes the 49-minute runtime drag slightly and the weaker tracks “Only Ashes Left” and “As Darkness Fades” could have been excised to strengthen the entire package.

Much like Chaos’ album art, Hades Rising strikes me as an entity still deciding what exactly they want to be. If they want to continue pursuing the symphonic death course, they should double down on the orchestral facet and make it more prominent and dramatic. Or they could pivot to a death-doom direction more suited to the crushing atmosphere that’s present here. In any case, I believe the best is yet to come from these gentlemen as they continue to refine their already solid writing skills. Chaos won’t be threatening to topple many year-end lists at the eleventh hour, but neither does it deserve to be lost in the kerfuffle of the impending Listurnalia.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Release
Website: hadesrising.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/hadesrising
Releases Worldwide: December 18th, 2024

#2024 #30 #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Chaos #DeathMetal #Dec24 #FiresInTheDistance #FleshgodApocalypse #HadesRising #InternationalMetal #NorwegianMetal #Review #Reviews #SelfRelease #SymphonicDeathMetal

Gigan – Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus [Things You Might Have Missed 2024]

By Maddog

Back in the early 2010s, Gigan wooed me with their lovably absurd album titles, like 2013’s Multi-Dimensional Fractal-Sorcery and Super Science. Luckily, Gigan had the musical chops to back it up. Their distinctive blend of brutal death metal, skronky technicality, and alien atmospheres made me a cult megafan. Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus interrupts a seven-year silence, and the only staffers thrilled about its arrival were myself and Alekhines Gun. In retrospect, this is understandable; AAI is a weird album by a weird band, and it’s unlikely to win over anyone who isn’t already so inclined. While Gigan’s newest is a lot to chew on, it offers a great glimpse into why I’ve stood gaping for over a decade.

If Mithras is Morbid Angel in space, then Gigan is Wormed in space. Eric Hersemann’s guitars lay the foundation, playing Defeated Sanity riffs at an Archspire pace. However, in its melodies, its composition, and its production, the album is foremost an atmospheric journey, not a riff-fest. Hersemann’s guitar and bass lines sound otherworldly through their dissonance and sudden transformations (“Erratic Pulsitivity and Horror”). Eschewing simple song structures, Gigan’s uneasy odysseys take several focused listens to make any sense. Straying from the genre’s typical clinical production, AAI opts for a reverb-laden wall of noise that resembles a muddled Mithras. This remains my biggest gripe, as the album’s cloudy guitar sound untooths its impressive melodies. Conversely, AAI’s highlight might be its drumming. Nathan Cotton’s world-class performance excels in its raw technicality, its frenzied evolution, and its cockpit role in the album’s ebb and flow. But most of all, it wows through its raw humanity. On highlights like “Trans-Dimensional Crossing of the Alta-Tenuis,” the attention to detail in Cotton’s performance shines through every beat and can only be described as beautiful. While that word isn’t common in brutal death metal reviews, it’s a testament to Gigan’s singular sound.

Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus is a wild journey. Gigan steamrolls the listener with brutal riffs, appealing to idiots like me without devolving into idiocy themselves (“Square Wave Subversion”). On the other end, Gigan’s skronky adventures are grand slams. The latter half of “Trans-Dimensional Crossing…” blends light-speed brutality with Morse Code guitars that remain the album’s highlight, while “Emerging Sects of Dagonic Acolytes” captivates me with The Velvet Underground-style chaos. Armed with bulletproof melodies in their right hand and chaos in their left, Gigan’s compositions feel like Lovecraftian narratives. Most strikingly, the shrieking melodies and distorted drum-led chorus of “The Strange Harvest of the Baganoids” evoke visceral terror for the plight of those poor Baganoids.1 Gigan fares less well when they sacrifice riffs for amorphous meanderings, especially on longer tracks (“Emerging Sects…”). But when AAI wields riffcraft and atmosphere in unison, it stands unmatched. For instance, the closer “Ominous Silhouettes…” wows with what sounds like a Deeds of Flesh riff being played by a depressed Martian, leading into dual-guitar screeches à la Pyrrhon. Engrossing and ever-evolving, Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus immerses the listener in its saga.

While snippets of Gigan bear the signatures of other bands, no one else has ever made music like this. Although its bloat and its muddy sound hold it back, Gigan’s comeback is a rewarding specimen of their unconventional brand of brutal death metal. Dissonant, brutal, grimy, and alien, Anomalous Abstractigate Infinitessimus is tough to digest even for the Gigan-initiated. Ears shall be split, brows shall be furrowed, and poseurs shall be (strangely) harvested. Few will survive. But those that do will have quite a story to tell.

Tracks to Check Out: “Trans-Dimensional Crossing of the Alta-Tenuis,” “The Strange Harvest of the Baganoids”

#2024 #AmericanMetal #AnomalousAbstractigateInfinitessimus #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BrutalDeathMetal #DeathMetal #DeedsOfFlesh #DefeatedSanity #DissonantDeathMetal #Gigan #Mithras #Pyrrhon #TechnicalBrutalDeathMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #TheVelvetUnderground #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2024 #TYMHM #Wormed

#CurrentlyListeningTo Esoctrilihum - Döth-Derniàlh #HeavyMetal #DeathMetal #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal 🇫🇷

Stuck in the Filter: August and September 2024

By Kenstrosity

I am a stubborn bitch. I work my underlings hard, and I won’t let up until they dig up shiny goodies for me to share with the general public. Share might be a generous term. Foist upon is probably more accurate…

In any case, despite some pretty intense setbacks on my end, I still managed to collect enough material for a two-month spread. HUZZAH! REJOICE! Now get the hell away from me and listen to some of our very cool and good tunes.

Kenstrosity’s Turgid Truncheons

Tenue // Arcos, bóvedas, pórticos [August 1st, 2024 – Self-Release]

Spanish post-black/crust/screamo quartet Tenue earned my favor with their debut record, Anábasis, back in 2018. Equal parts vicious, introspective, and strangely uplifting, that record changed what I thought I could expect from anything bearing the screamo tag. By integrating ascendant black metal tremolos within post-punk structures and crusty attitude, Tenue established a sound that not only opened horizons for me taste-wise but also brought me a great deal of emotional catharsis on its own merit. Follow-up Arcos, bóvedas, pórticos deepens that relationship. Utilizing a wider atmospheric palette (“Distracción”), a shift towards epic song lengths (“Inquietude, and a greater variety of instrumentation (observe the beautiful horns on long-form opener “Inquietude”), and a bluesier swagger than previous material exhibited (“Letargo”), Tenue’s second salvo showcases a musical versatility I wasn’t expecting to complement the bleeding-heart emotional depth I knew would return. This expansion of scale and skillset sets the record apart from almost anything else I’ve heard this year. Even though one or two moments struggle to stick long-term (“Enfoque”), Arcos, bóvedas, pórticos represents an affecting, creative, and ridiculously engaging addition to my listening schedule. And for the low low price of NYP, it ought to be a part of yours as well.

Open Flesh Wound // Vile Putrefaction [August 28th, 2024 – Inherited Suffering Records]

Thicc, muggy slam with a million pick scrapes. Who could ask for anything more? Not I, and so it is with great pleasure that I introduce to my AMG fam Pennsylvania’s very own Open Flesh Wound and their debut LP Vile Putrefaction. Essentially the result of Analepsy’s and Devourment‘s carnal lovemaking, Vile Putrefaction is a nasty, slammy, brutal expulsion of chunky upchuck. Only those with the most caved-in craniums will appreciate the scraping swamp-ass riffs showcased on such slammers as “Smashed in Liquids” and “Cinder Block to the Forehead,” or the groove-laden thuggery of death-focused tracks like the title track, “Fermented Intestinal Blockage” and “Body Baggie.” Vile Putrefaction’s molasses-like production is an absolute boon to this sound as well, with just enough gloss to provide a deliciously moist texture which imparts an unlikely clarity to especially gruesome details in “Stoma Necrosis” and “Skin Like Jelly.” It’s dumb as hell, and isn’t doing anything new, but is an overdose of good, dirty fun. Simple as.

The Flaying // Ni dieu, ni ma​î​tre [September 5th, 2024 – Self Release]

I’ve been singing Canadian melodic death metal quartet The Flaying’s praises for almost six years now. And still to this day not enough people choose to sing with me. Why? Because they wouldn’t know sickeningly fun death metal if it hacked their faces right off. That’s okay, because The Flaying do hack faces right off regardless, and it feels so good to watch the faces of those who don’t heed my call get hacked right off. Third onslaught Ni dieu, ni ma​î​tre proves that once again, The Flaying are an unstoppable force of bass wizardry, riff mastery, and hook-laden songwriting. Opener “Le nécrologiste” perfectly encapsulates The Flaying’s particularly addicting brew of Cannibal Corpse, The Black Dahlia Murder, and De Profundis influences, shaken and stirred until the resulting cocktail blooms with a flavor all its own. Technical and brutally fast, follow-up track “L’enclave” continues the deadly rampage, featuring noodly bass lines guaranteed to elicit stank face in the even most prim and proper elite. A trim twenty nine minutes, spread over ten tightly trained tracks, Ni dieu, ni ma​î​tre boasts unbeatable replay value. Highlights “Ni dieu, ni ma​î​tre,” “Les Frondes” “La forge,” and “Noyau sombre” seal the deal by providing sharp hard points and memorable landmarks to which any listener would look forward. Simply put, this record rocks my socks and further proves that I am right about The Flaying, and those who ignore my recommendation are wrong.

Dolphin Whisperer’s All-Seeing Affirmations

Eye Eater // Alienate [August 1st, 2024 – Self Release]

In a post-Ulcerate world, the modern output of atmosphere-minded death metal has grown exponentially. With ringing dissonant chords and slow post-informed builds taking center stage, bands like New Zealand’s unheralded Eye Eater borrow plenty from the Destroyers of All sound. However, while many acts would be content to dial in the space or ramp up the dissonance to try and put their own twist on this growing post-death movement, Eye Eater looks to the laser-precise melodic tones of progressive, core-borrowing names like Fallujah and Vildhjarta to carve an identity into each of Alienate’s album eight sprawling tracks. Swinging sustained brightness in one hand about the grizzly chug-crush of the other, burly bangers like “Other Planets” and “Failure Artifacts” find churning, djentrified grooves that amplify the swell of the blaring melodies that swirl above the low-end clamor. And though the main refrains of “Alienate” and “Everything You Fear and Hope For” sound like loving odes to their Kiwi Forebears, the growth into sonorous and lush-chorded peaks lands much closer to the attraction of turn of the 10s progressive death/metalcore luminaries The Contortionist had they stayed closer to their heavy-toned, hefty-voiced roots. As an anonymous act with little social presence, it’s hard to say whether Eye Eater has more cooking for the future. With their ears tuned to the recent past for inspiration, it’s easy to see how a band with this kind of melodic immediacy—still wrapped in the weight of a brooding, death metal identity—could easily play for the tops of underground charts. To those who have been following the twists and turns of both underground and accessible over the past decade or so, Eye Eater may not sound entirely novel. But Alienate’s familiarity in presence against its quality of execution and fullness of sound makes it easy to ensnare all the same.

Dissolve // Polymorphic Ways of Unconsciousness [September 20th, 2024 – Self Release]

From the sand-blasted, monochrome human escaping the floor of Polymorphic Ways’ cover to the tags of technical, progressive, death that adorn the Bandcamp tags, it’s easy to put a band like Dissolve in a box, mentally. But with the first bent guitar run that sets off “Efficiency Defiled” in a run like Judas Priest more than Spawn of Possession, it’s clear that Dissolve plays by a different set of rules than your average chug and run tech death band. Yet true to their French nature, the riffs that litter Polymorphic Ways of Unconsciousness possess a tangible groove following the footsteps of lesser-known tricksters Trepalium and Olympic titans of metal Gojira (“The Great Pessimistic,”1 “Polymorphic Ways of Unconsciousness,” “Vultures”). And while too Dissolve finds a base in the low-end trem assault of Morbid Angel (“Ignorance Will Prevail”), there’s a thrash and bark energy at play that nets a rambunctious and experimental sound recalling the warped Hetfield-ian (Metallica) scrawl of Destroy Erase Improve Meshuggah, right down to the monstrous bass tone that defines Sonny Bellonie’s (Sanctuary, ODC) growling, extended range performance. As a trio it’d be easy for guitarist Briac Turquety (Smerter, ex-Sideburn) to rely on overdubs for saturation of sound and complexity of layers—and for solo cut-ins he definitely does—but equally as often his choice to let certain chords and notes escape a thrashy muting to ring in distorted harmony against snaking bass lines. And speaking of solos, Turquety’s prowess ranges from bluesy shred (“The Great Pessimistic,” “Ropes of Madness”) to noisy, jazzy explorations (“Polymorphic…,” “Shattered Minds of Evolution”) to Satriani on Slayer whammy abuse (“Bonfire of the Vanities”)—a true treat to lovers of tasteful shred. Turquety, Bellonie, and Quentin Feron (on drums, also of Smerter) sound as if they’ve been playing together for much longer than the year that Dissolve has existed. With a debut this polished, it’s anyone’s guess as to what kind of monster will emerge from the talent that appears so effortless in assembly.

Obsidian Mantra // As We All Will [September 27th, 2024 – Self Release]

Sometimes, a tangled and foreboding cover sits as the biggest draw amongst a crowd of death metal albums alight with splattered zombie remains, illegible logos, and alarm-colored palettes. And in the case of Obsidian Mantra, it doesn’t hurt that lead single “Cult of Depression” possesses a devastating, hypnotic groove that recalls the once captivating technical whiplash of an early Decapitated. However, rather than wrestle with tones that incite a pure and raw violence like that cornerstone act (or similar Poldeath that has followed in its legacy like Dormant Ordeal), Obsidian Mantra uses aggressive and bass-loaded rhythmic forms to erupt in spacious and glass-toned guitar chimes to create an engrossing neck-snapping (“Slave Without a Master,” “Condemned to Oppression”). Whether we call these downcast refrains a dissonant melody or slowly resolving phrase, they grow throughout each track in a manner that calls continual reinforcement from a rhythm section that can drop into hammering blasts at a dime and a vocal presence that oscillates between vicious snarl and reverberating howl. In its most accessible numbers (“Chaos Will Consume Us All,” “Weavers of Misery”), Obsidian Mantra finds an oppressive warmth that grows to border anthemic, much in the way like beloved blackened/progressive acts like Hath do with their biggest moments. As We All Will still never quite reaches that full mountainous peak, though, opting to pursue the continual call of the groove to keep the listener coming back. Having come a long way from the Meshuggah-centered roots where Obsidian Mantra first sowed their deathly seeds, As We All Will provides 30 minutes of modern, pulsating, and venomous kick-driven pieces that will flare easy motivation for either a brutalizing pit or a mightily-thrusted iron on leg day.

Thus Spoke’s Cursed Collection

Esoctrilihum // Döth-Derniàlh [September 20th, 2024 – I, Voidhanger Records]

We complete another orbit around the Sun, and Esoctrilihum completes another album; such are the inalterable laws governing each 365.25 Earth day period in our Solar System. Possessed by some mad, restless spirit, it seems they cannot be stopped. Ever the experimenter, sole member Asthâghul now picks up an acoustic guitar, a nickelharpa, and warms up his throat for more clean vocals to further bizarre-ify his avant-garde black metal. As we travel into the cosmos for Döth-Derniàlh, Esoctrilihumisms abound in the see-sawing strings and echoes of chanted singing and throaty snarls. The addition of more acoustic elements does bring some weird delicacy to moments here and there (“Zilthuryth (Void of Zeraphaël),” “Murzaithas (Celestial Voices)”), and it adds layers of beauty in addition to those already harmonious passages. it’s striking how well these new instruments blend with the overall sound: so well, in fact, that it almost feels like Esoctrilihum hasn’t evolved at all. This isn’t even a bad thing, because Döth-Derniàlh still feels like an improvement. Past albums have always had at least sections of perfection, where the scattered clouds of self-interfering chaos or repetition blow away and the brilliant light of the moon shines strongly. Döth-Derniàlh has more of these than ever, some extending to whole, 16-minute songs (“Dy’th Eternalhys (The Mortuary Renewal),”).2 If you have it in you to listen to one (more) album over an hour long, and you don’t already know you hate Esoctrilihum, sit down with a drink, and maybe a joint, and go where Döth-Derniàlh takes you.

#2024 #Alienate #AmericanMetal #ArcosBóvedasPórticos #AsWeAllWill #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Aug24 #AvantGarde #BlackMetal #BrutalDeathMetal #CanadianMetal #CannibalCorpse #DeProfundis #DeathMetal #Decapitated #Dissolve #DormantOrdeal #DöthDerniàlh #Esoctrilihum #EyeEater #Fallujah #FrenchMetal #Gojira #GrandMagus #GrendelSSÿster #Gygax #HarcorePunk #IVoidhangerRecords #InheritedSufferingRecords #JethroTull #JudasPriest #MelodicDeathMetal #Meshuggah #Metallica #MorbidAngel #NewZealandMetal #NiDieuNiMaîTre #ObsidianMantra #ODC #OpenFleshWound #PolishMetal #PolymorphicWaysOfUnconsciousness #PostDeathMetal #PostMetal #postPunk #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ProgressiveMetal #Punk #Sanctuary #Screamo #SelfRelease #Sep24 #Sideburn #Slam #Slayer #Smerter #SpanishMetal #SpawnOfPossession #StuckInTheFilter #StuckInTheFilter2024 #TechnicalDeathMetal #Tenue #TheBlackDahliaMurder #TheContortionist #TheFlaying #ThinLizzy #Trepalium #Vildhjarta #VilePutrefaction #WishboneAsh

Mitochondrion – Vitriseptome Review

By Dear Hollow

Vancouver’s Mitochondrion has a knack for violence. The quartet has always hinted that its signature relentless breed of dissonant black/death war metal is a façade for a much darker reality, contrary to the lurid barbarousness of its counterparts. Longwinded compositions of unhinged brutality suddenly align into chuggy riffs and experimental prowess at the guidance of its triple-vocal attack from hell, making cohorts with just as much of the likes of Teitanblood and Adversarial as Ulcerate and Portal.1 Deceptively straightforward, incessantly pulverizing, and neck deep in otherworldly ambitions, it’s non-Euclidean punishment from men who are alchemists at heart. Mitochondrion returns.

Otherworldly ambition has largely separated Mitochondrion from its counterparts since its 2003 inception. Vitriseptome is the lineup of their classic albums, 2008’s Archaeaeon and 2011’s Parasignosis, with bassist Sebastian Montesi of Auroch and Atemporal the only new addition in 2012. It has been thirteen long years since Mitochondrion’s formidable Parasignosis, only an EP (Antinumerology) and a split with Auroch (In Cronian Hour) to fill the absence. What 2024’s Vitriseptome does is ambitious to compensate, a ninety-three-minute affair described as a trilogy in two phases, separated by a flurry of ambient interludes – often the only respite from the intensity. With classical alchemy in mind, Mitochondrion concocts this mixture: the two phases or halves representing “Dissolution” and “Coagulation,” the trilogy denoting the three classical alchemical elements salt, sulfur, and mercury, and its quarter movements coined “Separation,” “Confusion,” “Initiation,” and “Return.” Each portion consists of a distinct sound palette while adhering to its emphasis on non-Euclidean and claustrophobic punishment rooted in sinister blackened death, cavernous OSDM, and bellicose war metal while venturing into the realms of dark ambient and noise. While its length is challenging and ambition alienating, it is worth a trek through Mitochondrion’s darkness where the smoke curls up and the crooked galaxies hang.

Each division encapsulates a certain mood or focus. Opening five-track suite “Separation” would feel right at home in an Adversarial album, gashing the ears with relentless blasting, unhinged tremolo, wailing solos, and putrid roars amid shifting sands of jarring tempo shifts, aligning like rotten stars in pulsing staccato climaxes (“Increatum Vox,” “Oblithemesis”). The seven tracks of “Initiation” balance its muscular character with a thick shroud of grime-crusted noise (“The Cruxitome,” “Ignis Caecus”), punishing concrete riffage emerging like colossal fists (“Argentum Mortifixion,” “The Protanthrofuge”). Contrary to these blasting behemoths of excess, latter halves “Confusion” and “Return” are far more restrained,2 comparatively meditative explorations that encapsulate the respective war metal attack and noisy approach (“Vacuuole,” “Viabyssm”), while expanding into filthy oceans of emptiness with Ulcerate-esque dissonance and haunting solos (“Flail, Faexregem!,” “Antitonement”) – a darker place to land that serves as a reminder as to who holds the key on this intense journey. The mix is dense and nearly impenetrable, a key contrast to the likewise ambitious organic treks of Ingurgitating Oblivion or Orgone.

As disparate as the styles are within Vitriseptome’s various divisions, they never stray from Mitochondrion’s signature breed. The punishment is still all-encompassing and incessantly pulverizing, but balance is the priority. Its moments of relative stillness there is a tension to the looming attack (“Viabyssm,” “The Protanthrofuge”), and there are moments of tense placidity in the more warfaring partitions (“The Erythapside,” “Ignis Caecus”). Dynamically, the band utilizes its interludes and its underlying approach extremely effectively, with smooth transitions (“Oblithemesis” to “[]” to “Vitriseptome;” “Ignis Caecus” to “[antimonphoresis]” to “Vacuuole”) guiding the proceeds from experimental and unhinged former to patient and contemplative latter. As such, nary a second feels wasted on Vitriseptome despite its interlude-heavy tracklist and demanding runtime. Its two-then-three-then-four thematic divisions don’t feel confused or convoluted, because the density of the music and intricate construction lend purpose and distinction. Vitriseptome offers undeniable proof that Mitochondrion remains atop the death metal echelon, in spite of its thirteen-year quiet.

Vitriseptome is challenging, but it’s a challenge well worth undertaking. A puzzle unlocked, its secrets are revealed with every listen – a harrowing and putrid collection of knowledge. The dynamics therein tell a story of alchemical rage and occult obsession, fueled by madness and horror. Undeniably a test of patience, its first impression of unhinged insanity slowly gives way to intensely calculated brutishness, bolstered by its atmospheric prowess and bared teeth of noise. Mitochondrion hasn’t missed a beat after thirteen years: Vitriseptome succeeds as a reminder of their formidable greatness and sets the tone for the act’s pulverizing future.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 53 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Profound Lore Records
Websites: mitochondrion.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/mitochondrion137
Releases Worldwide: November 1st, 2024

#2024 #40 #Adversarial #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Auroch #BlackenedDeathMetal #CanadianMetal #DarkAmbient #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #Egregore #IngurgitatingOblivion #Mitochondrion #Noise #Nov24 #Orgone #Portal #ProfoundLoreRecords #Review #Reviews #Teitanblood #Ulcerate #Vitriseptome #WarMetal

Devenial Verdict – Blessing of Despair Review

By Thus Spoke

The moment the single “I Have Become the Sun” appeared on Transcending Obscurity’s 2024 label sampler, Devenial Verdict’s sophomore album Blessing of Despair became one of my most anticipated of the year. Ash Blind, 2022’s profound and uncompromisingly heavy atmospheric death metal debut, blindsided me and cruised nonchalantly into my year-end list. Tagged as ‘dissonant,’ Devenial Verdict rather occupies that ideal zone of pseudo-disso-death that warps disharmony into mournfulness and urgency, creating a “huge, sinister, and darkly beautiful” sound. With Lewandowski’s “Absolute Authority” standing as a signifier, Blessing of Despair spins parables of the cursed. Its movements are the laments of doomed creation; the expression of the infinite distance between the hoped-for divine purpose, and reality.

Blessing of Despair is a moody record. It maintains and further refines the atmospheres of its predecessor. Devenial Verdict swings back and forth with greater frequency (and greater ease) between temper tantrums—stomping, chuggy battering—and lethally graceful restraint. Already compelling, these swings produce a vice grip of coercive control thanks to the intense groove holding everything together. Percussion (Okko Tolvanen), strings (Sebastian Frigren and Antti Poutanen), and vocals (Riku Saressalo), jointly compose rhythms so satisfying and irresistible they almost shouldn’t be allowed in extreme music this atmospheric (particularly on “Blessing of Despair” and “Solus”). For, as my ears bear witness, it can become almost impossible to crawl out of the abyss of delicious darkness Blessing of Despair opens up.

What makes Blessing of Despair so powerful is that it dials everything that makes Devenial Verdict unique up a notch, purifying and evolving an already distinctive sound. There were thunderous cascades of bass beats and throat-rending roars before, but nothing like the chest-slamming thrill that opens the album after a visceral inhale (“I Have Become the Sun”), nor the glorious devastation crashing through “Blessing of Despair,” nor the insidious aggression of “Garden of Eyes,” and “Solus.” There were flirtations with distorted, alien wails in the guitarwork, but they pale next to the undulations of “Moon-Starved;” the disquieting “wouarm”-ing of “Cold Lantern,” and the electrifying slides and squeals Devenial Verdict yank out of chord progressions hither and yon. Blessing of Despair excels at developing melody and integrating it into the soundscape. Melancholy weaves in and out (“Moon-Starved” or “The Quietus”) if it doesn’t hang like a specter in resonance (“A Curse Made Flesh”). The dragging drawls of “A Curse Made Flesh,” the suddenly sirenlike descent in “Solus,” and, especially, interlude “Shunned Wander,”1 don’t give me chills just because they’re beautiful. Themes carried on the stream of Blessing of Despair’s grander composition, these songs flow seamlessly out of and into those surrounding them.

And so it is that Blessing of Despair’s best moments are those where the idiosyncratic musicianship and calamitous heaviness combine with mournful refrains and irresistible groove. The final act of “Solus” is hands-down the best musical moment of the year so far; fusing a yearning, morose minor strain with a magnetic cadence. Aided by solemn refrains, rhythm combines with shivering atmosphere (“Blessing of Despair,” “A Curse Made Flesh”), and the addition of half-whispered growls (“The Quietus,” “Cold Lantern”) to create breathless and inexorable tides of an unresistable meter. The magnitude of such highs does—perhaps inevitably—throw a little shade upon other songs. “Counting Silence” is weaker than its brethren, extending its runtime beyond what its mysterious chords and explosive eventuality can justify. The pensive “A Curse Made Flesh” is an understated way to end the album, lacking the authority that the glorious “World Breaker” had on Ash Blind. Yet this latter ordering nitpick doesn’t detract from a song that is, in its individuality at least, brilliantly crafted. And the more I listen to it, the more I appreciate the somber introspection it lends as the final chords hum and fade away.

Blessing of Despair proves that lightning can strike twice for Devenial Verdict. With a song of the year contender in its midst,2 it’s a force to be reckoned with. Being consistently this strong is no mean feat. Anticipation rewarded with this catharsis of forward-thinking, stellar atmospheric death metal is a blessing.

Rating: Great
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR mp3
Label: Transcending Obscurity
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: October 4th, 2024

#2024 #40 #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BlessingOfDespair #Blog #DeathMetal #DevenialVerdict #DissonantDeathMetal #FinnishMetal #Oct24 #Review #Reviews #TranscendingObscurityRecords

Ingurgitating Oblivion – Ontology of Nought Review

By Dear Hollow

I’ve spent over twenty hours with Ontology of Nought, trying to learn the German Ingurgitating Oblivion’s method in the madness. I’m still lost. I’m still stumbling blindly through the dead ends, the hairpin turns, the ominous spires, and the high walls that enclose its labyrinth, attempting to discover its light but knowing that it will only be by chance if I do. I cannot find a pattern, a clue, or an architectural basis anywhere. It’s blind memorization and utter void of context, and I have never been so baffled and intrigued by something calling itself death metal.

The lack of reference makes Ontology of Nought such a difficult album to score. Laced dissonance, choppy rhythms, blackened death intensity, and technical arpeggios, tied together with spoken word, a haunting atmosphere, and vicious noise, avant-garde veterans Ingurgitating Oblivion1 somehow avoids sounding like the trademarks of any of the bands who use them. Their first album in seven years consists of five tracks spanning nearly an hour and fifteen minutes, the eighteen-minute closer divided into three movements. It shifts patiently, organically, but with the intention and direction of the blind leading the blind. Ingurgitating Oblivion constructs Ontology of Nought not as a collection of highlights and riffs, but as a sonic labyrinth composed of mile-high walls, experimental twists, jagged spires, and brutal nihilism.

Disjointedly, Ingurgitating Oblivion recalls acts like Serocs, Coma Cluster Void, and Flourishing, a fusion of dissonant, blackened, and avant-garde death metal, sprawled together with ambiance and murky songwriting – however, Ontology of Nought is a free jazz expedition a la Sun Ra or Peter Brötzmann at heart. Opener “Uncreation’s Whirring Loom You Ply with Crippled Fingers” sets the tone with a haunting ambiance, interspersed by nearly mathcore-inspired marbled rhythms and manic drumming and featuring wild jazzy solos. The suffocating sprawl of noise and dissonance gives “To Weave the Tapestry of Nought” a dangerous grin atop its cantankerous rhythms, and the crescendos of lush ambiance, cumbersome keys, and clean vocals are downright haunting and strangely infectious. The women’s choir of “Lest I Should Perish with Travel, Effete and Weary, as My Knees Refuse to Bear Me Thither” shines through this tapestry of noise, interspersed by blackened death bomb explosions. Closer “The Barren Earth Oozes Blood, and Shakes and Moans, To Drink Her Children’s Gore” is a tour-de-force of spidery keys, unhinged drumming and sick riffs, epic solos, crawling leads, scathing noise, and crystalline ambiance, an eighteen-minute behemoth with which Ingurgitating Oblivion will test your patience and your sanity in some of the best ways, the patience of prior tracks stricken to the bone.

It’s easy to draw comparisons to Midnight Odyssey or Swallow the Sun in Ontology of Nought’s challenging runtime, but at least those atmoblack and melodeath/doom legends have shreds of consistency. Ingurgitating Oblivion shifts dramatically across each song’s ten-to-nineteen-minute track-lengths in ways that rob distinctiveness in favor of an ever-changing amorphousness, leaving memorability by the wayside. Most damning is centerpiece “The Blossoms of Your Tomorrow Shall Unfold in My Heart,” which lacks the oomph or highlight to stand out amid the crushing sea of experimentalisms and jarring shifts, compared to the haunting “To Weave…” and the actualized clarity of “Lest I Should Perish…” It’s ultimately small potatoes, however, because despite the myriad spins, I still cannot seem to wrap my head around Ontology’s shifting sands of jarring tonal and musical changes. This makes Ingurgitating Oblivion almost entirely inaccessible, requiring an obscene amount of concentration – in an inherently difficult style – for an asinine amount of time. In the spirit of free jazz, Ontology of Nought feels nearly entirely improvised, so it’s difficult to tell if its insanity is a puzzle worth solving or an empty pretentious pursuit.

When I started listening to Ingurgitating Oblivion, I was reading “The Library of Babel” by Jorge Luis Borges – and the comparisons fit. While the short story about infinite numbers of identically structured hexagons and books clashes with the insane apparent randomness coursing through Ontology of Nought, the lesson remains the same: the choice of purpose in the minute or despair in the infinite. How each listener approaches this album will differ, as the experimentalism is maddening and the runtime is extravagant. The sounds contained herein are unlike any others, with intensity, experimentalism, and organicity playing an infinite sonic game of chess worthy of both shudder and intrigue. Listen to it once – replay mileage will vary.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Willowtip Records
Websites: ingurgitatingoblivion1.bandcamp.com | ingurgitating-oblivion.de | facebook.com/IngurgitatingOblivionOfficial
Releases Worldwide: September 27th, 2024

#2024 #35 #AtmosphericDeathMetal #AvantGardeDeathMetal #AvantGardeMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #ComaClusterVoid #DeathMetal #DefeatedSanity #DissonantDeathMetal #Flourishing #Fountainhead #FreeJazz #GermanMetal #IngurgitatingOblivion #Jazz #MentallyDefiled #MidnightOdyssey #OntologyOfNought #PeterBrötzmann #Review #Reviews #Sep24 #Serocs #SunRa #SwallowTheSun #TechnicalDeathMetal #WillowtipRecords

Monolith – Lord of the Insect Order Review

By Dear Hollow

Monolith is the herald of Earth’s new overlords: the insect swarm. Insects outnumber humans an estimated 1.8 billion to 1, so it was only a matter of time Once united by a hive mind, the planet doesn’t stand a chance. The twist though is that the master race, the Lord of the Insect Order, so to speak, is giant space caterpillars. While Monolith’s first 2024 release Hornets Nest focused on the general depravity of the human condition, Lord of the Insect Order brings the B-movies and pulp. It’s War of the Worlds but with bugs, and you should be afraid, very afraid. In a tidy thirty-two minutes, Monolith takes us on a journey into humanity’s insignificance at the hands of insectoid overlords.

Their 2020 sophomore effort No Saints No Solace was received poorly by the illustrious Saunders but things have changed: Monolith’s got range.1 2024’s Hornets Nest was a foray into untouched territory, as the typically deathcore quartet dove headlong into crusty blackened hardcore that felt like Black Breath, This Gift is a Curse, and Nails got together for a brunch of tar and rusty wrenches—in perhaps one of the most surprisingly solid forays into unfamiliar territory. Lord of the Insect Order is back to its deathcore roots, but experimentation is still a heavy emphasis for this English quartet (from Devon and Cornwall). The first half creates more doom-oriented menace, a bit of The Acacia Strain sans hardcore scrappiness, while the second dives back into the Boris the Blade and Aversions Crown breakdowns-and-blastbeats bread-and-butter you expect from deathcore. Ultimately, thanks to tasteful length, emphasis on relentless beatdown, and never taking itself too seriously, Monolith towers with its cosmic caterpillars.

Truthfully, I’m not sure why more deathcore doesn’t dive into death/doom, because as The Acacia Strain’s Failure Will Follow taught us, the knuckle-dragging crunch fits like a glove into slow-motion pummeling. As such, the first act’s offerings like “Swarm’s Offering” and “Progeny Feast” slow things down to a menacing crawl that doesn’t necessarily forsake its breakdowns and down-tuned noodling, but weaponizes them alongside absolutely vicious vocals and haunting synths. Atmosphere shines most prominently in this half, with the yearning instrumental title track and lamenting “Planetary Hardening” offering synth-infected dirges that reflect upon the ruined landscape and eradicated race. The second act, ripped into creation with “Eclosion; Rise of the Imago Predator,” attacks with relentless brutality that recalls tempo-abusing interpretations like Aversions Crown or Osiah. The common thread of the yearning atmosphere infects “Parasitic Accession” and “Lonomia Pestilence” like a last tragic gasp before being wholly consumed – by a cosmic caterpillar. Neatly, these two sounds do not contradict, as Monolith’s viciousness is only highlighted by its ambiance. It concludes with the most bombastic track, “Unfurling of the Cosmic Caterpillar,” which borrows slightly from the doom palette for a song as epic as it is punishing—a suitable ending to an insane album.

While the differences between the two acts lend themselves to inconsistency, Monolith’s seamlessness between them and the natural resulting crescendo works like the plotline of an engaging story benefited by the influence of B-movie schlock. That being said, for thirty-two minutes, there are a few filler moments. Album intro “IRAS; Larval Comet” and “Holometabolism” do a solid job adhering to the album’s killer cosmic caterpillar theme and establishing the atmosphere in ways that reflect Aegaeon or early Kardashev. However, with such a short runtime Monolith would do well to trim the excess; the first half in particular could do with some more fleshing and breadth, as the three 3-5 minute doom tracks leave me wanting more. The second half, in particular, will not sway deathcore naysayers, as its emphasis on excess and constant breakdowns is never subtle. While Monolith’s theme is lighthearted, recalling the antics of A Breath Before Surfacing, their skill and brutality are certainly forces to be reckoned with.

Monolith’s second 2024 full-length benefits from its frivolous B-movie influence and willingness to experiment. While I’d like to see more of the deathcore-gone-doom vibe, the second half is tight and uncompromising, the first is epic and formidable, and the atmosphere is a breath of fresh air amid the swarming instruments. Monolith’s range cannot be overstated, because Hornets Nest feels like a completely different beast but was equally formidable. Lord of the Insect Order flies by, will get your toe tapping and resurrect your fears of giant cosmic caterpillars overthrowing life as we know it.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Self-Released
Website: facebook.com/monolithuk | bandmonolith.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: August 23rd, 2024

#2024 #30 #ABreathBeforeSurfacing #Aegaeon #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Aug24 #AversionsCrown #BlackBreath #BorisTheBlade #DeathMetal #DeathDoomMetal #Deathcore #DoomMetal #EnglishMetal #Kardashev #LordOfTheInsectOrder #Monolith #Nails #Osiah #Review #Reviews #SelfRelease #TheAcaciaStrain #ThisGiftIsACurse

Construct of Lethe – A Kindness Dealt in Venom Review

By Dear Hollow

Construct of Lethe embodies a constant limbo of underrating, often in cahoots with acts like Desolate Shrine or Lantern in that they lay delicate fingers upon dissonance and grime without diving headlong into them, oft sporting a blackened edge. Instead of buying into mimicry, Tony Petrocelly’s quartet Construct of Lethe has embodied a darkness all of their own, beginning with 2016’s Corpsegod, a raw and angular take on death metal, and perfected in 2018’s more triumphant Exiler, which was given the TYMHM treatment by the gone-but-unforgotten Kronos. First album in six years, A Kindness Dealt in Venom attempts to break their silence with an ambitious album designed as one continuous track with twelve distinct movements.

Construct of Lethe merely dabbles in dissonance and grime, but that doesn’t mean A Kindness Dealt in Venom is an easy or pleasant listen. Rather, there is a veil draped across its entire visage, ghostly and punishing in equal measure. Uncompromisingly bleak and haunting, it is an album you get lost in, and one you can be proud to blare at maximum volume, a challenger for fans of classic Morbid Angel, Immolation, or Hate Eternal, and for diehards of the more dissonant stylings of Noctambulist or Heaving Earth alike. Divisively more experimental and far more contemplative and divisive than its predecessors in a more pronounced doom presence and instrumental saturation, A Kindness Dealt in Venom nonetheless offers no reprieve.

Construct of Lethe first and foremost attacks their third full-length with a sense of menacing organicity and miasmic fluidity – with complete shredding in mind. You have your more predictable death metal affairs, touched upon by blastbeats and chunky riffs a la Morbid Angel or Bolt Thrower, in tracks like opening movement “Artifice” or “Denial in Abstraction,” but the true highlights are feats of songwriting that revel in a more slow-moving and ominous pace, as the dissonant jangling saturating “Contempt” and the pulsing tribal elements of “I Am the Lionkiller” inject palpable dread. Longest track “Bete Noir” is an easy climax, its nine-minute breath oozing through pulsing death/doom beatdowns of raucous percussion, thick bass, and a dynamic with disintegration in mind. Eating at the ears like a more insidious but deadlier pyroclastic flow, the percussion acts like the hammering of the anvil while the sliding interchange between Morbid Angel riffs and Immolation blasphemy in the soundtrack of madness. “Labyrinthine Terror” and closer “Tension – There is Nothing for You Here” exemplify this lethal fusion likewise, recalling more high-minded assaults like Labyrinth of Stars or Sulphur Aeon. Construct of Lethe expertly balances a dissonant death template with old school death shredding in an album that mightily succeeds in both.

Truthfully, there are no blatantly bad tracks aboard A Kindness Dealt in Venom, but the implications of its pacing and flow are questionable at best. Construct of Lethe’s first act up until “Denial in Abstraction” will have you believe that this is a pure death metal foray (like Corpsegod or Exiler) but when the second act begins you are unwittingly met with a series of build-ups with little capitalization. Tracks “Flickering,” “I Am the Lionkiller,” “Paroxysm as Pratmatism,” “Raw Nerve, Iron Will,” “Sacrosanct,” and “Tension – There is Nothing For You Here” are all instrumentals stacked in the latter half,1 and are likewise all incredibly brief affairs, the shortest “Sacrosanct” clocking in at less than a minute. I understand that Construct of Lethe composed this album as a single track with twelve movements, but this whiplash from instrumental to instrumental, with incredible dynamic builds leading to musical dead-ends, is a head-scratcher. It’s as if they included new vocalist Kishor Haulenbeek in the first half of the album then abruptly fired him before the second – even though the guy’s still employed. The flow is therefore problematic, as the first half of the album constitutes thirty minutes of the album’s forty-five. As “Bete Noir” stands as a potential SOTY, it puts all following tracks in its shadow – which sucks, because there are ten.

Construct of Lethe proves they are masters of their craft with A Kindness Dealt in Venom, but it’s almost entirely derailed by its odd tracklist. Especially when Petrocelly and company have never included an instrumental in Exiler or Corpsegod, it’s confusing why suddenly A Kindness Dealt in Venom features six of them – primarily in the second half. Don’t get me wrong, each track is fantastic, blending purist death metal with dissonant and avant-garde tendencies that never derail it due to organic production and songwriting. However, for an album that professes a cohesive whole, Construct of Lethe has never felt more disjointed. Bang your head while scratching it.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Websites: constructoflethe.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/constructoflethe
Releases Worldwide: June 21st, 2024

#2024 #30 #AKindnessDealtInVenom #AmericanMetal #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BoltThrower #ConstructOfLethe #DeathMetal #DesolateShrine #DissonantDeathMetal #HateEternal #HeavingEarth #Immolation #Jun24 #LabyrinthOfStars #Lantern #MorbidAngel #Noctambulist #OldSchoolDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #SulphurAeon #TranscendingObscurityRecords

Ulcerate – Cutting the Throat of God Review

By Thus Spoke

“The holiest and the mightiest that the world has hitherto possessed, has bled to death under our knife,” cries the madman.1 And somewhere, the thought that “without God, everything is permitted,”2 becomes a slogan of apathy, a justification, or a cause for lament; if indeed, it is thought at all. However literally taken, the notion of morality’s divine origin is one that has loomed over Western philosophical tradition for centuries, whether as a guide or antithesis. In this light, it is clear that Cutting the Throat of God is no edgy, anti-religious statement. By titling their seventh full-length as they have, Ulcerate reach into the murky realms of human values, agency, responsibility, and the burden of choice, of freedom, of being. Never a stranger to the philosophical, the band have come also to pair their uncompromisingly intense dissonant death metal more and more with a melodicism that heightens, rather than eases, the music’s winding tension, and an atmosphere that never compromises brutality. It’s a sound that perfectly complements the solemn and unwavering gaze at the horrors of Being-in-the-world, and it’s a sound that one finds nowhere else but with Ulcerate.

Cutting the Throat of God does everything Stare Into Death and Be Still did, but better, and many more things besides. What that predecessor mused, this work lives, developing introspective, immersive progressiveness into a living, breathing consciousness you irresistibly follow. An aching pathos emanates from the more overtly mournful themes that span these pieces (“Further Opening the Wounds,” “To See Death Just Once”), while, at its blunter edge, refrains fade in and out dreamily in a way that belies their ability to compel. The riff that opens the album on “To Flow Through Ashen Hearts” already feels iconic, in an insidiously understated way. The premonitions of catharsis hinted at through resonant ebbs of guitar pull the thread of apprehension through fleeing peaks and flutters, and only when it reaches an unbearable tautness does it snap, and spark into flame, as tremolo burns a bright path downwards in a blaze of abreaction (“Transfiguration in and Out of Worlds,” “Undying as an Apparition,” title track). The album is just as, if not more, hazily atmospheric, mysterious, and fathomless, as the prior work, but it contains that blazing, stomach-clenching urgency that Stare Into Death fell short on; that spirit of catastrophe from The Destroyers of All; that malice and resolution from Shrines of Paralysis. All melds together under the unifying shapeless form of Cutting the Throat of God’s mesmerising trajectory.

I hardly have to even say, but I will. The percussion, which is more body than skeleton on this beast, is phenomenal. Drums are already the basis and pattern of a song’s trajectory, but with Ulcerate, Jamie Saint-Merat’s fluid, meticulous work drives every breath-catching pause, every rising apex, every stillness, every charge. Intertwining with refrains through rippling fills, with fading, crescendoing pulses of guitar that flood the undulating darkness with wailing light (“The Dawn is Hollow,” “Transfiguration…” “Undying…”) the resonant warmth of a dissonant bass hum and the roaring inexorability of Paul Kelland’s commanding vocals. It’s all one, bound up by percussive waves of stutter, circle, and sway. Like a tide, the lulls only drag you deeper, as whispers of cymbal accent an ambient undertow that precipitates a surge forward into devastation. A tremolo taking up the mantle (“To Flow…,” “Transfiguration…”), a catch in the tempo as low and high strings (“To See Death…,” “Undying…”), or the shuddering impact of cymbal (“Further Opening the Wounds”) converge out-of-sync to ring and drawl from every direction, and an almost-resolution, before it all ends, without release, only to begin again.

Like any good piece of art, Cutting the Throat of God stays with you beyond its literal scope. Long after its final notes play out I find myself unconsciously looking back, my mind magnetically pulled to it, like some kind of strange nostalgia. But more than that, it’s music with so many layers, that no matter how many times I listen to it, I find something new, and sometimes all I want to do is lie back and be immersed, just one more time. I am a shameless Ulcerate acolyte of the highest degree, after all. And if you’re not, it’s nigh impossible you wouldn’t be struck by something here. Because contained within are what I believe to be Ulcerate’s greatest manifestations of existentially anguished, veil-tearing truth and ambitious composition. Yes, it’s long—57 minutes—and yes, it’s loud—though not as loud as Shrines—but we don’t wait with bated breath for music we don’t want to play at high volume, or that we don’t want to end.

In saying all this, do I mark Cutting the Throat of God as Ulcerate’s best album? It’s impossible to call. It may not match the confrontational intensity of Everything is Fire, or the balanced intrigue of Destroyers. But of them all it is perhaps the most profound. A blissfully dark melting pot of the savagery, authenticity, and more recently, beauty that makes this icon of the dissonant death metal world who they are.

Rating: Excellent
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Debemur Morti
Websites: Official Site | Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: June 14th, 2024

#2024 #45 #AtmosphericDeathMetal #CuttingTheThroatOfGod #DeathMetal #DebemurMprtiProductions #DissonantDeathMetal #Jun24 #NewZealandMetal #Review #Reviews #Ulcerate

Tzompantli – Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Art is culture. Culture needs representation. These two things often align with metal in ways we don’t realize, whether it’s the new death metal band that wants to play old-school death metal to continue to push for the representation of simpler times in death metal, or the cinephile who longs to see their niche amongst the swarms of various niche interest metal bands out there. Everyone wants to be seen and accepted for who they are, and the majesty of this metal realm we inhabit is such that artists can do just that. In the case of Tzompantli and their sophomore release Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force, this collective of California-based musicians—a pool of eleven performers from bands of all extremities, including Xibalba, Teeth, Civerous—wishes to express their reverence for the brutal nature worship of the Aztec/Mexica people and history. But never fear, this new and furious outing is far from a dissertation.

True to its namesake, Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force comes loaded with indigenous percussion, shrill flute shrieks, and piles and piles of deathly riffs. With a ferrous scent and sanguine splatter, the guitar ensemble that powers Tzompantli churns buzzsaw riff to Peaceville droning harmony with ease. And as the serenity of those moments dissipates in the wake of sacrifice, beatdown approximating segues crush space like the crack of macuahuitl to its unfortunate foe. In many ways Beating whips about with greater intensity than this act’s debut outing a couple of years back—time has allowed nuance to settle.

As such, Beating at its most impressive and brutal assaults stirs battle-lust in a manner that only this sound-nook can. No proper volume exists for sections like the skull-splitting opening fifteen seconds of dramatic flute wail and warrior chant or the recalled alert that swells to a primal throb on “Tetzavitzli.” Testament to Tzompantli’s eclectic nature, this pattern of tension and release reminds me most of both the ritualistic crescendo aim of aggressive Neurosis works (think “Through Silver and Blood” or “Under the Surface“) and the long-form low-end abuse of Evoken. However, compared to both of those acts, the crew that composes Tzompantli skews death and hardcore, so many songs find a way back to the grounded realms of down-tuned tremolo runs and tempo-tugging shuffles.

Despite the impressive number of people involved in the creation of Beating, rarely does the album feel like the result of a tribe in unison. Now, you may be thinking that that shouldn’t matter, that the number of people on paper doesn’t always have to present in total sound construction. While that’s true, Tzompantli does indeed crash in waves as one, like the fireside call and response of “Tlaloc Icuic” that lights the path for a Conan-sized drop or the heavily layered percussion that propels “Tetzaviztli.” And in these explosive displays of collective power, Tzompantli makes its mark not only as unique and affecting death/doom band but as a realization of their mission statement. It’s a wonder to behold and a shame that the link amongst these peaks renders as merely good slow, chugging death metal.

In the atmospheric realm, Tzompantli’s trademark “Tzomp-Stomp” lands like a breath of scorching hot air. Yet that same force poses an issue in this tightly interwoven tapestry of oscillating moods that Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force swings. It’s tough to temper the twitch of might and the pulse of bravado that engorges throughout these tales of might, triumph, war, and loss. The comedown ambience can simply be too unsettling. But with many passages in the Nauhatl language helping engross the audience in ancient glory, Tzompantli, at least, succeeds in sharing their reverence for their chosen and deeply personal subject matter. And with as many bodies that compromise this unique and promising band, it’s anyone’s guess as to how impacting their continued statements will be.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: 20 Buck Spin | Bandcamp
Website: facebook.com/tzompantlidoom
Releases Worldwide: May 17th, 2024

#20BuckSpin #2024 #30 #AmericanMetal #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BeatingTheDrumsOfAncestralForce #Civerous #Conan #DeathMetal #deathDoomMetal #DoomMetal #Evoken #May24 #Neurosis #Review #Reviews #Teeth #Tzompantli #Xibalba

Red Rot – Borders of Mania Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Depression comes in waves. If you—or anyone you know and love—have ever witnessed or experienced its grip, you know that it’s a battle. Davide Tiso, the slippery Italian guitarist responsible for the jazzy hardcore machinations of Ephel Duath, and the jangling progressive excursions of Howling Sycamore, seems to know this fight all too well. Two years ago Tiso unearthed Red Rot as a heart-on-sleeve death metal journey that both reunited him with his old friend and vocalist Luciano George Lorusso (ex-Ephel Duath) and explored the darkest corners of his psyche with crashing riffs and scathing, hypnotic melodies. Here in 2024, I’m not too sure that Tiso is any better, but his axe remains sharp and thrilling as ever.

Leaning further into the weirder side1 of 90s Morbid Angel riffcraft, Borders of Mania in its creeping and gothic presentation leads with a more straightforward attack than its predecessor, Mal de Vivre. That word—straightforward—is misleading, as the multitudinous layers of languished and dissonant guitar wailings continue to tell tales only of sadness, bitterness, and anger. It just so happens that before many of these spiraling and dramatic moments, Tiso lays down wide and harmonized chord grooves that set the stage both to crush emotions with sheer weight (“Compulsive Illusion,” “Agony Untold”) or inspire a windmilling headbang enough to whip them away (“Cranioscopy,” “Vindication”). And if the guitar sounds don’t sell the sullen vignettes, Lorusso adopts a discernable yet throat-tearing bellow that falls somewhere between the classic David Vincent (ex-Morbid Angel, Vltimas) bark and the snarling croak you might catch in early Ihsahn/late Emporer work.

Regardless of what tools Red Rot uses to hook and jam, the sense of drama that pervades throughout Borders of Mania defines its jagged rise and fall. Really, the album needs that emotive build to provide structure to its fifteen tracks that lack traditional death metal peaks like erupting guitar solos at chaotic bridges or crowd-pumping, throat-challenging choruses. Instead, Tiso orchestrates aggressive runs that pivot into mopey waltz-time cries (“False Memory,” “Endless Ravine,” “Misericordie”). Other times, Red Rot shifts into a gothic styling that paints with the many identities that Paradise Lost has worn over the years, including the industrial march of the blaring synth-led closer “Affliction and Relief.” And, of course, what Lorusso lacks in traditional sing-along refrains he makes up for with dripping ruminations like “I want my life back” and “Me-a culpa, me-a culpa, me-a max-i-ma culpa” (“Cranioscopy”). He also follows up that Catholic prayer by barking like a dog with an abandon you have to live to learn.

For all its eclectic flair, Borders of Mania feels like an iterative journey for Red Rot, both within itself and against what came before. Most tracks have landmark moments to separate them from each other, but the journey that leads to them doesn’t always feel all that different. “Agony Untold” and “Homo Sapiens Imago Dei” and “Inner Voice” for example, both follow a similar trajectory of double-kick death metal broken up by some warbling vocal asides. This increasing gothic nature does lead to the first low and slow croon-fest on the album, “Overlord,” which is a Paradise Lost peak that resembles the massive “After the Funeral” from Mal de Vivre. And on the back half “Not in Control” and “Cranioscopy” work similarly in groove and tumble to expand upon the front half’s heaviest moments. Atmospheric at heart, Borders of Mania thrives on these recurring themes, but with as many tracks as there are that fall on this self-reflective platter, it may not lose much without one or two of them.

Even if these recurring themes that border repetition exists, Red Rot performs with enough nuance that its goal of swallowing the audience in its downcast world succeeds. If either Tiso or his surrounding cast were lesser players, Borders of Mania wouldn’t even be half the album it attempts to be. The truth is that each track is a collection of smart details and shifting tones that make replays easy, rewarding, and necessary. Red Rot still hasn’t quite found that truly throat-closing, stars-in-eyes moment that sells these hard-to-swallow works as a breakaway success. But flaws and all, Borders of Mania commands enough attention to pose an issue to my listening time in hopes of finding the catharsis for which its bleeding words reach.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Hammerheart Records | Bandcamp
Websites: redrotmetal.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/red.rot.metal
Releases Worldwide: May 10th, 2024

#2024 #35 #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BordersOfMania #DeathMetal #Emporer #EphelDuath #GothicMetal #HammerheartRecords #HowlingSycamore #Ihsahn #InternationalMetal #May24 #MorbidAngel #ParadiseLost #ProgressiveDeathMetal #RedRot #Review #Reviews

Atrae Bilis – Aumicide Review

By Kenstrosity

2020 saw the rise of an exciting new EP by Canadian oddball tech death outfit Atrae Bilis, entitled Divinihility. While that record carved deep grooves into the earth, forming a tight network of twisting channels into which the band planted their roots, the wrangled tangle of barbed vines that sprung out of debut LP Apexapien exhibited more dissonant and atmospheric traits than I anticipated. It wasn’t a direction I would’ve preferred Atrae Bilis to take, but there’s no denying now that it was the smartest move. The band’s signature gnarled expulsions kept me intrigued enough that I eagerly snapped up sophomore full length Aumicide for my warped death fix.

If Apexapien took what was great about Divinihility and fragmented it into something uncanny and alien, then Aumicide took Apexapien as inspiration, dissected it once more, and reimagined its constituent elements into a design even more mangled and unnerving. That’s not to say that Atrae Bilis carelessly hacked apart and stitched together their creations without consideration. In fact, Aumicide is meticulously conceived and immaculately fastened together (“Inward to Abraxas,” “Monolith Aflame”). Staggered riff patterns and jagged grooves sync together despite their short-lived spans. Ideas disperse as quickly as they appear, or they reprise themselves at odd intervals and unexpected junctures (“Hell Simulation,” “To Snuff the Spirit Guides”). Somehow, the parts and pieces of the whole find an unlikely unity, a counterintuitive sense of flow across a remarkably tight forty minutes.

An unfortunate consequence of Atrae Bilis’ increasingly unorthodox approach to songwriting is that Aumicide only rewards its most patient and invested listeners. A true grower by nature, Aumicide lacks the immediacy of any of the band’s previous releases, instead focusing on an unintuitive structure that recalls a sonic equivalent to M.C. Escher’s wood engravings. Everything I encounter is easily recognizable as Atrae Bilis’ work, but Aumicide’s form is initially difficult to navigate because so many of its disorienting passages feel interchangable—any one could swap positions with another without compromising the structural integrity of the whole (“Protoxenesis” vs. “A Kingdom of Cortisol”). With more time, attention, and most importantly, many repeat listens, it steadily becomes apparent that those pieces are in fact bespoke to the songs in which they feature (“Inward to Abraxas,” “Through the Hologram’s Cervix”). Unfortunately, that realization may come too late for some. An added consequence of Atrae Bilis’s use of ephemeral vignettes as the building blocks of their constructs, many of Aumicide’s best ideas lack memorability or are difficult to pinpoint when recalling specific measures.1 Because the bulk of its compositional moments only get small portions of time apiece to shine, eschewing traditional repetition more often than not (exceptions include the incredible riffs in “Inward to Abraxas” and “To Snuff the Spirit Guides”), Aumicide might slip out of listeners’ grip on a casual spin.

On focused spins, though, Aumicide is monumentally interesting and continuously entertaining. Gnarled musical pathways weave between deformed, often heavily distorted scenery and create an uncomfortable atmosphere that feels so far removed from terrestrial environs that it challenges less acclimated tastes. But, because Atrae Bilis still retains the muscular groove that informed their earliest material, Aumicide’s otherworldly anatomy remains as invigorating as ever for a wider audience. From the opening bars of surprisingly worthwhile instrumental opener “Protoxenesis” to the bouncy leads closing the record as “Excrutiate Incarnate” fades to black, Aumicide swaggers and swerves with a flexibility that belies its sinewy form. Atrae Bilis’ ability to manipulate arpeggiated riffs, scathing scrapes, staggered blasts, and ultra-guttural roars into increasingly unknowable shapes never ceases to surprise. The added strobing distortions that provide a novel post-processed zest to songs like “Salted in Stygia” and “Inward to Abraxas” only expands their arsenal of ever-mutating sounds. That continuous drive to incrementally diversify and develop constitutes the spirit of Aumicide, and is the very thing that makes Atrae Bilis’ brainy tech death so much fun to experience.

The challenge, then, is how do Atrae Bilis evolve from this stage? A million options lie before them, but I as part of their loyal audience can’t anticipate where they lead. For me, that prospect indicates Atrae Bilis still have much potential to realize, and that Aumicide is but a stepping stone towards the band’s peak form. Therefore, I will continue watching Atrae Bilis closely and with great enthusiasm. I can’t wait to hear what comes next.

Rating: Good!
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Websites: facebook.com/atraebilis | atraebilisdeath.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: April 19th, 2024

#20BuckSpin #2024 #30 #Apr24 #AtmosphericDeathMetal #AtraeBilis #Aumicide #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #TechnicalDeathMetal

Kvadrat – The Horrible Dissonance of Oblivion Review

By Thus Spoke

Back in June 2021, when my Instagram page was fresh-faced and non-AMG-affiliated, I reviewed Kvadrat’s EP Ψυχική Αποσύνθεση. Struck by its mesmerizing blend of atmospheric, dissonant death and black metal, I bemoaned its truncated length as I was sucked in by what I then described as “a gripping black hole of sound.” With the vividness of this experience having faded into a memory of “that really great Greek EP,” everything came flooding back upon receipt of a DM from the (sole) individual behind Kvadrat, Ivan Agakechagias, asking if I wanted to review his upcoming debut. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. The Horrible Dissonance of Oblivion, “built to remind, provoke, traumatize and disturb, to fuel and awaken the nauseating sensations of uncertainty, alienation, hatred and pain” with artwork, drawn by Ivan himself, accompanying each track, is a plunge into the existential nightmare of being-in-the-world, and meaning, or lack thereof. As of course, all the best extreme metal is.1

The Horrible Dissonance of Oblivion assertively cements Kvadrat’s signature voice in the scene, enhancing those most alluring, and crushing, aspects. Guitars don’t just resonate, they hum, even whistle, as they whip like icy wind in mournful, piercing melodies (“Σηπτική Ανυπαρξία,” “Γυάλινα Μάτια”). And melody is what makes this music so powerful. Melody in that pseudo-dissonant, urgent, mournful sense that draws itself up into spikes of biting drama and waves of washing catharsis that crash down into ferocious, blackened ire (“Υπόγειος Λαβύρινθος,” “Ολική Αποσύνθεση”). The propensity for compositions that endlessly undulate with a feeling of push and pull, driven by writhing percussion stop-starting and pacing, demonstrated in Ψυχική Αποσύνθεση, is here expanded on, as is how these tides of melancholic refrain lead the rhythmic convolutions into mesmerizing patterns. It’s bleak and it’s beautiful, and with a longer runtime than previously afforded, the album provides a longer, and deeper experience that is insidiously affecting.

Like the ancient Greek tragedies of aeons past, The Horrible Dissonance of Oblivion plays out a drama of pensive mystery, rising, ebbing, then resurgent tension, and melancholic lamentation. With “Υπόγειος Λαβύρινθος” opening the album with an intriguing play of gentle plucks, and closer “Ολική Αποσύνθεση” gradually building a delicate, ever-more-mournful melody, the remainder—save “Αμνησία”‘s cavernous, hair-raising inhale of unease—pulls a thread of nerve-wrecking, endlessly punishing intensity. The tremolo that comes to those opening and closing tracks, projecting the theme into a renewed acuteness and gravity, is like lightning licking the smoky ground. The long screams that bridge spidery chord progressions and torrential washes of guitar (“Υπόγειος Λαβύρινθος,” “4°C,” “Γυάλινα Μάτια”) are little shivery breaths. And together with the push and pull created through the endless tumble and roll of percussion—shifting tempos breaking down in stripped-back echoes (“Η Φρικτή Δυσαρμονία της Λήθης”), dropping down to heavy pulsing, and racing back up again to dbeat double-bass devastation (“Σηπτική Ανυπαρξία,” “Ολική Αποσύνθεση”)—this creates a momentum that is violently addictive and compelling.

It was probably whilst hearing the title track (“Η Φρικτή Δυσαρμονία της Λήθης”) for the second or third time that I realized what it was that holds the record back from complete perfection: reserve. While there are great, extended parts where the tragic dramatic elements interweave and rise together beautifully—”Ολική Αποσύνθεση”‘s first half is probably the highlight in this regard–there’s a sense in which it seems Kvadrat is teasing us. Beyond the most potent peaks of melodic and tension-releasing beauty (“Υπόγειος Λαβύρινθος,” “Σηπτική Ανυπαρξία,” “Ολική Αποσύνθεση”), the compositional waves in this storytelling ocean are more akin to the churning of agitated waters (“4°C”) or ripples on a deceptively still surface (“Αμνησία”). And it’s in the title track, where things threaten multiple times to break into floods of pathos—but never quite do—that the unbearable tension of the dissonant and semi-dissonant scales and circling drums is the most immediate. The thing is, what I condemn for being unsatisfying I ought perhaps to commend for representing, in musical form, that from which the album takes its name—an endless, placeless dysphoria.

To say that The Horrible Dissonance of Oblivion succeeds is an understatement. It is a crowning glory of existential agony and dark beauty. And it’s a debut. Even though the compositions fall short of total devastation, there is more than enough time, both for them to grow obsessively in the mind, and for Kvadrat to release their future masterpiece. It should not stop anyone, least of all myself, from diving headlong into its depths.

Rating: Very Good
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Desolate Depths (EU)/Nuclear Winter (EU)/Total Dissonance Worship (US/ROW)
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: April 4th, 2024

#2024 #35 #Apr24 #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BlackMetal #DeathMetal #DesolateDepths #DissonantBlackMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #GreekMetal #Kvadrat #NuclearWinterRecords #Review #Reviews #TheHorribleDissonanceOfOblivion #TotalDissonanceWorship

Civerous – Maze Envy Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

As I gazed upon the purple-toned maze—which, does not appear to be a very well-designed maze in its hissing sculpture—and heard the early, shimmering notes of what Civerous brought to the table for this sophomore release, Maze Envy, my mind raced. This Los Angeles-based act’s 2021 full-length debut, Decrepit Flesh Felic, filled a snarling, buzzing diSEMBOWELMENT-shaped niche of pounding, shifting death metal that supplies ample kicks to the seat. Though Civerous never turned quite as doom-laden and tortured as that Australian novelty, 1 they pushed into the bounds of long-form tumble in their cavernous lane with a proud stomp. But a few years older, and a few shades brighter, does Maze Envy promise the exploration at which their debut hinted?

Guitars trading between stomp, surge, and swing and rhythms finding a matching march or pummel—many elements remain the same from their adventurously death metal 2021 debut Decrepit Flesh Relic. If you’re unfamiliar with the kind of churning slow-down to percussive madness that many Incantation-admiring bands summon, Civerous’ debut stands just a bit higher in the pack of young festering hopefuls. Vocalist Lord Foul (Aylwin) helps in particular with a croak that thrashes with sibilant character and tunneled prowess that throws already hefty breakdowns into feral arm-throwing frenzies (“Shrouded in Crystals,” “Levitation Tomb”). Enhancing further these barks and bellows, guitarists Alonso Santana and Daniel Salinas (Aylwin) have chosen a less crusty, more ripping tone which helps spread the hum and grime of an early Pestilence throughout this hazy outing.

Though the twisted, cavernous brutality of Civerous’ trudging death metal persists, Maze Envy takes this act’s atmospheric aspirations and fine-tunes them. With a couple band member’s shared experience in atmoblack project Aylwin serving a little bleedover into this venture, it feels natural to hear the melodic, post-black breakaways flutter about the corners of this labyrinth. Oddly, no sole member receives credit for the emulated violin and synth work,2 but these creeping and searing additions play an integral role in the horror movie introduction (“The Azure Eye”) and in recalling those moods throughout various points of Maze Envy. Concluding with the Convocation-esque closer “Geryon (The Plummet),” Civerous feels more comfortable than ever allowing a funereal-adjacent pace and melodrama to steer the path about a crushing identity.

On many of these longer tracks, the riff work quality and transition don’t distribute weight evenly. In part, some of this uneven trample results from the lack of dynamics within the heavier sections of songs. Maze Envy finds breath well in a tense intro and dreamy interlude (“Endless Symmetry”). And in its most explosive numbers (“Labyrinth Charm,” “Maze Envy”), Civerous breaks the tension with textural shifts that soar with a cutting and soaring post-gazey crescendo. And while some of those same shades exist in other songs, the compressed assault can be tiring with hardcore-leaning chug-shuffles guiding excursions providing more of a plod despite Civerous also showing proficiency with jagged-tinged death twists.

In speaking of this brand of brutish metal that approaches its attack from trudging paces that erupt into spurts of mania as its krux, beauty should be fleeting but apparent, interwoven but off-center. The search for that glimmer is the function and draw of its ugly tones and warping character. Civerous seems to believe in this end goal as well, finding a sound among contemporaries like labelmates Worm and the recently successful Spectral Voice. In turn, Maze Envy succeeds a good deal more than it stumbles. It’s final track alludes to a character from Dante’s Inferno—Geryon, the beast of fraud—who acts as a sinister guide to the eighth circle of hell. I’m not sure Civerous crackles quite as I would hope for a venture of this depth, but I am excited to see whether their next journey takes us even deeper.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 63 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: 20 Buck Spin | Bandcamp
Websites: civerous.bandcamp.com | instagram.com/civerous_disease
Releases Worldwide: March 22nd, 2024

#20BuckSpin #2024 #30 #AmericanMetal #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Aylwin #Civerous #DeathDoom #DeathMetal #diSEMBOWELMENT #Incantation #Mar24 #MazeEnvy #Pestilence #Review #Reviews #SpectralVoice #Worm

Knoll – As Spoken Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

I got a chance to see Knoll live in 2022 shortly after the manic Metempiric dropped. All in all, only twenty people scattered about my favorite hometown venue—a homely bar with a solid stage attached to a bowling alley. This ragtag group of kids who looked to be no older than high school graduates gave the performance of a lifetime—gut-churning rhythms, sudden breakaways from ripping guitar phrases to crying trumpet blares, a vocalist whose life depended on the successful bleeding of the audience’s ears.1 Knoll represents the ideal of youthful ambition. As Spoken is the result.

Did you know that partially choking yourself and maintaining the lurch of a nutritional expulsion both qualify as valid and effective vocal techniques? If you didn’t before, take note that Knoll’s frothing mouth (and wildly curling tongue), James Eubanks, gargles phlegm through vicious snarl and unkempt hiss throughout the entirety of As Spoken, akin to every voice of Left 4 Dead2 at once rather than a typical grunt or gargle. The caustic shrieks and fiercely overtone-rich retches play as refined deathcore techniques taken to new highs and lows—and free of lazy breakdowns in Knoll’s caustic world. As Spoken does not travel in any traditional waters, nary a chorus nor crowd chant nor guitar solo nor pentatonic lick cross its projection. Its forty minutes instead flutter as an amalgamation of contemporary dissonant and ritualistic styles distilled in an arcane mysticism that feels just as campy as it does deadly serious.

The most intense moments of As Spoken render with an unmistakable physicality. Knoll’s guitar attacks strike as weighted, twisting, winding, the bent passages of “Offering,” “Mereward,” “Shall It Be” hitting similarly to warped compositions of an early Dodecahedron piece but with all brightness stripped away. That is until a muted, waning trumpet cry pierces the murk of “Revile of Light” and again against the rage of closer “Shall It Be.” These contrasts act like snow-capped tops amongst the menacing mountains that surround them, important earmarks in the somewhat self-similar assault. The same is true of the riff-less, glottal punishment of “Utterance” which highlights Eubanks’ already crushing performance in a manner that unsettles and awes all at once. Knoll still knows how to throw hands with “Unto Viewing” and “Fettered Oath” delivering late-album calls to violence that feel like ascended oaths to a rowdier youth. Sometimes the quickest path really is that straight cut, unsewn, and expelling.

As this album’s artistic vision dictates, in fascination of an antiquated and blistered grayscale, its sonic palette flourishes in tones of low and lower. Chords and phrases find emphasis often through skewed doubling and layered hammering. Drums hammer in thumping toms, low pop snare, and dull splash cymbals. These choices render the dry bass as mere rhythmic counterpart rather than stabbing counterpoint as you hear more prominently in acts that fall along a similarly dissonant path (check the Portal-ish pounding of “Portrait”). Knoll escapes rumbling muddy but also evades a shar clarity in foggy presentation of the math-inspired, jagged runs that litter As Spoke. Against expanding songcraft, Knoll has used this threatening drawl as tool that gradually dissipates with each passing summoning, casting “Shall It Be” as the most treble-driven, ripping affair that collapses in conclusion as a consequence of its reckless momentum—fickle but fitting.

Finding a throbbing pulse that echoes the relentless march of a contemporary avant-death mongers Aeviterne and a narrative focus that rivals the horror-tinged mathgrinders Fawn Limbs, Knoll has moved bounds beyond earlier efforts. Looking back at Interstice and Metempiric, now, it’s easy to see that Knoll fancied themselves as punks with a frightful and macabre aspirations rather than the full-fledged storytellers that As Spoken required. While the riff and pummel of deathgrind maintains a splotch on the board, this new moody, creaking, and real-time dissolving piece needed a pigment that only time could stain. As Spoken lives loudly even if its trials earn minor scuffs and squabbles from over-reliance on fading ambience to affix intention to exclamation. But you may notice that throughout this written discovery, Knoll exists only in approximations of the sounds that other bands present—their voice rings unique and expressive. And with a little more time to fester and form an evolving vision, Knoll will be a name that extreme metal hopefuls chase.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream!
Label: Self Release
Websites: untoviewing.com | knollgrind.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/knollgrind
Releases Worldwide: January 26th, 2024

#2024 #35 #Aeviterne #AmericanMetal #AsSpoken #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Deathgrind #DissonantBlackMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #Dodecahedron #FawnLimbs #Jan24 #Knoll #Portal #PostDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #SelfRelease #SelfReleases

Aphotic – Abyssgazer [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Dolphin Whisperer

Evil. No matter what flowery progressive, flamboyantly triumphant path metal may weave, a large part of what attracted many of us, and a large part of what inspires creators, rests in distilling evil into dark vibrations, wallowing wails, and crooked melodies. Previously in this mindset, Italy’s Nicolò Brambilla (voice, synths1) and Giovanni Piazza (guitars) have presented this energy with cosmic funeral doom act Fuoco Fatuo, and contrastingly with the bursting and churning riffcraft of Brambilla’s 90s-inspired death metal troupe Ekpyrosis. Aphotic,2 born of this grime-crusted pedigree, swings with a ritualistic fervor from ripping blast to reverb-drenched howl to conjure the unique, reeking atmosphere that pervades Abyssgazer. Evil lurks in every phrase.

As such, Abyssgazer presents as the kind of echoing incantation that must ring through ears from first to last note. No mere synthesis of the acts who fed Aphotic into existence, this sometimes blackened, sometimes funeral doom-weighted, always death metal assembly expresses itself in a peerless manner. The cavernous kick pummels that split air to render space for discordant guitar screeches recall the thunderous energy of a lurching Immolation. The breakaways into bouncing rhythms with layered and resonant vocal chants recall the anthemic black metal of Rotting Christ, albeit with a bend toward the psychedelic. The hypnotic kit hammering and looped lead melodies exist as a twisted Godflesh instance manifested as a death metal sacrifice. In hands less mindful, and in engineering fine-tuned by Esoteric’s Greg Chandler—a mind of similar persuasion but much longer in phrasing—Abyssgazer could have flown off its experimental rails.

Instead, disarmingly so, Abyssgazer flows naturally from idea to idea, with each long-form statement having a strong central identity. A trio of world-building breaths intersperse the heaviest moments: “Endzeit I,” a slow percussive build before a shattering blast beat open; “Endzeit II,” an eerie, reverberating acoustic segue before an even squirmier post-informed eruption; “Endzeit III,” a menacing synth-scraping the hisses toward the punishing conclusion. As contemporaries to Bölzer and Tongues, Aphotic finds its death metal rooting not in loud, chunky chords but rather in snaking progressions that rumble through low-end tremolo drills (“Spectral Degredation,” “Depths Call Depths”) and whip with phasing arpeggio force (“Cosmivore,” “Chasmous”). Nothing summons the dark lord like a lumbering, hazy legato.

On early listens, though, equally due to loaded layers of ambient electronic and modulated metal elements, Abyssgazer may struggle to brand its choices into memory. It’s the journey that forms first: the brutalist bashing that kicks off the descent (“Spectral Degradation”), the bellow and choir that won’t stop ringing (“Deathward and Beyond,” “Horizonless”), the summoning dirge that announces collapse (“Chasmous”). The swinging riffs and recursive melodies stitch these points together (“Cosmivore,” “Abyssgazer”). Until a martial spirit reveals itself along the path (“Cosmivore,” “Horizonless”). Everything always moves forward.

Abyssgazer reads less like a grand novel and more like a short story, ultimately. Its tools well worn and non-gratuitous, the time that elapses over this debut’s course never feels overstayed. Aphotic has the power to warp time in their meticulous and death-carved hands. So as exciting as Abyssgazer lands, and much, in the same way, it lures the listener along, the next step along this band’s career promises even more.

Tracks to Check Out: “Spectral Degradation,” “Depths Call Depths,” “Chasmous”3

#2023 #Abyssgazer #Aphotic #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Bedsore #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #Bolzer #DeathMetal #Ekpyrosis #Esoteric #FuocoFatuo #Godflesh #ItalianMetal #NuclearWinterRecords #PostDeathMetal #RottingChrist #SentientRuinLaboratories #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed #ThingsYouMightHaveMissed2023 #Tongues

#NowPlaying #TheMetalDogIsNowPlaying
#Hypocrisy
The Arrival
Eraser

YouTube Search:
https://youtube.com/results?search_query=Hypocrisy+The+Arrival+Eraser

Lyrics:
https://genius.com/Hypocrisy-eraser-lyrics

Song Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja_hDxivKrI

#deathmetal #MelodicDeathMetal #metal #SwedishMetal #atmosphericdeathmetal

#NowPlaying #TheMetalDogIsNowPlaying
#Hypocrisy
The Arrival
Eraser

YouTube Search:
https://youtube.com/results?search_query=Hypocrisy+The+Arrival+Eraser

Lyrics:
https://genius.com/Hypocrisy-eraser-lyrics

Song Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja_hDxivKrI

#deathmetal #MelodicDeathMetal #metal #SwedishMetal #atmosphericdeathmetal

#NowPlaying #TheMetalDogIsNowPlaying
#Hypocrisy
The Arrival
Eraser

YouTube Search:
https://youtube.com/results?search_query=Hypocrisy+The+Arrival+Eraser

Lyrics:
https://genius.com/Hypocrisy-eraser-lyrics

Song Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja_hDxivKrI

#deathmetal #MelodicDeathMetal #metal #SwedishMetal #atmosphericdeathmetal

#NowPlaying #TheMetalDogIsNowPlaying
#Hypocrisy
The Arrival
Eraser
https://youtube.com/results?search_query=Hypocrisy+The+Arrival+Eraser
https://genius.com/Hypocrisy-eraser-lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja_hDxivKrI
#deathmetal #MelodicDeathMetal #metal #SwedishMetal #atmosphericdeathmetal

#NowPlaying #TheMetalDogIsNowPlaying
#Septicflesh
Communion
Anubis
https://youtube.com/results?search_query=Septicflesh+Communion+Anubis
#symphonicdeathmetal #deathmetal #metal #doommetal #atmosphericdeathmetal