This group, with folks from Prezir, Protestant, Enabler, Shut in, Force, and others, continues to deliver a Revenge/ Blasphemy/ Angelcorpse-inspired form of vitriolic black death that fans of recent acts like Chaos Inception, Olkoth, Plague Corpse, Imperishable, etc, will gobble up in spike ‘n’ leather goodness.

I covered the 2017 self-titled debut, and really dug it, and the follow-up, A Flock Slaughtered, delivered more of the same, and to the surprise of no one, this is a third album of the same cacophony of noisy, chaotic, feral, and snarling black/death metal.

33 minutes, 10 songs with titles like “Standing in Depravity”, “Satanic Hammer of Justice”, “Ravenous Hellslaught”. And not a single moment of respite or gimmick from the hellish noise. Chris Ellis has a throaty bellow and rasp, and the guitars of Bubba Nitz and Mike Gamm are gritty, raw, and menacing.

This isn’t a game-changer of an album or even a memorable album. But I mean that as a compliment.  You just sit there and let tracks like “Power to Stop It…”, “Rabid Dogs”,  and “Aftermath” punch you in the face and smile while your teeth shatter.

Well, slap me in the face and say stop all that cryin’, because Terror Corpse contains former Malignant Altar members. That’s right, folks. Hailing from Houston, Texas, Terror Corpse came to fruition earlier this year, and Ash Eclipses Flesh, honestly sounds like the follow-up to that Malignant Altar album. Everyone sings in this band, a group effort. Christian is on bass, Dobber is on drums and Mat plays guitar. 10 songs in 36 minutes, with an absolutely phenomenal album cover to boot.

“Pyre of Ash and Bone” starts things off with terrifically heavy distorted bass guitar then right into the galloping madness, then BOOM, into the blasting. The 1.30 slow, doomy section is atmospheric and just evil-sounding. Really going for that Incantation vibe. I am feeling that big time. Some black metal-ish harmonies erupt over the blast, then into the double pounding madness with absolutely filthy vocals. They are fantastic.

As the song closes out, “Gate Zero” erupts instantly with a monstrous blast beat. This will catch you off guard and bodyslam you through the various levels of magma. Just as abrupt as that blast explodes, so does the slow, doomy crawl after it. Heavy, organic, and executed perfectly with that isolated, distorted bass right after. I am thrilled when this style of death metal pays attention to the bass guitar and, rather than have it follow the guitar sound, the bass guitar has its own flair, in this case, fuzzy distortion. There is so much fuzz on the isolated bass guitar moments, it calls to mind vintage Carcass. Think Symphonies of Sickness, for reference points. This song owns!!

“Nuclear Winter” is not a cover from Sodom, but rather a very short song at 1.15. Galloping out of the gates, the song goes right into the doom death, then squealing guitars take us on a blast. The song returns to galloping headbanging madness before ending. I appreciate this brief song as the band crams a lot into it, as well as showing us they can streamline songs to fit in an extra song in a live setting, perhaps?

“The Hollow That Devours” is the longest song at 4.48 and has excellent opening double bass drums all over this sucker. The song settles into a slow, hoppy number, with guitar riffage, right out of the vintage Autopsy playbook. We are treated to a nice drum roll, which transitions into a faster-paced gallop. More throaty vocals and galloping madness, and I like how the guitar soloing helps end this song.

The band does the “Into the Crypts of Rays” (Celtic Frost cover) pretty well. The ultra-low gutturals make the lyrics indecipherable, except for the chorus. They pay homage to one of the greatest extreme metal songs ever recorded, in a respectful manner, by keeping the pace the same as the original.

So this new Malign…I mean Terror Corpse debut album, Ash Eclipses Flesh, is fantastic and has been in constant rotation for me. Memorable, organic, heavy, evil, and dark. Truly capturing the essence of the origins of what death metal is supposed to be about. This is one of the best albums from Dark Descent Records in the last several years, and I am looking forward to hearing future recordings from Terror Corpse!

All of their releases have been on Matt Calvert’s awesome Dark Descent Records. Gateway is the band’s fourth studio album, and we get seven songs in 35 minutes. Sometimes the dark cavernous sorta death metal Phobocosm plays, is best served with an album of this length.

“Deathless” starts things off with some guitars in the distance. The thunderous drums slowly build up, and this beginning has me thinking of some Finnish death metal bands such as Desolate Shrine. Dark and heavy, as well as dissonant. The instrumental portion of this opening goes on for over two minutes, until the 2.30 moment comes in. E.B.’s vocals are incredible and he’s always had a killer voice and for reference thing of Craig Pillard – Disma/Incantation. Super deep, throaty, yet enunciated brilliantly. This tune plods along in a doomy fashion, so damn heavy and it just pounds and pounds the listener into dust. R.M. and S.D. have some heavy AF guitar tones happening here, folks. A well-executed opening song.

J.S.G. showcases his faster drum skills on the next song – “Unbound”. It starts faster than it gets back into a mid-paced heavy groove, before the double pounding speed returns so you can headbang your head off those pathetic shoulders of yours. This song moves, and grooves, and the vocals are just fantastic. Truly evil, heavy, and some of the best death metal vocals on any 2025 release! It’s important to point out that the guitar riffs are actually discernible. They do not sound muddy, however they do bite much deeper, when the slower sections erupt or when the mid-paced moments are used. Much of what the band has going on here could be considered doom death metal to a degree, you can say.

Not everything is peaches and cream, though. There are 3 instrumentals woven within the release. They are cool, but that amounts to only 4 songs with vocals. I would have rather had maybe only one instrumental. 3 interlude instrumentals, on a 7 song album, is a bit much.

“Beyond the Threshold of Flesh” is over eight minutes and starts things off fast and the tempo shifts go from fast to then slower and back and forth. This is a pretty awesome beginning, which stays that way for the better part of the first two minutes. The song then slogs into this slow dense quicksand inspired doom. It takes hold of you and pulls you under; that is how densely heavy this moment is. The song then speeds up some more and all these moments are pretty much how the rest of the song is structured. Excellent song, and the vocals are terrific.

Gateway is a damn fine album from Phobocosm. My favorite from the band is still their second album, Bringer of Drought, from 2016. The band has remained consistent with their sound, although maybe a tad more doom death metal is on this latest album. While the band definitely has a penchant for playing a style from the late 80’s/early 90’s, make no mistake Phobocosm sounds fresh and brutal. Heavy and dark death metal – get this now!

Since that time, they’ve been doing… whatever bands do; I’m assuming playing shows and recording this album. What an album it is! It ups the brutality from Defiled in Oblivion and with a gut-ripping production… holy fucking shit.

From the blast furnace of opener “Fragments of Defiance”, it shows how hard they’ve worked on Coronation of the Grotesque; those two years paid off in spades. Crypta, take notice, this album kills. “I Am Eunuch” has some Morbid Angel feeling to it, these ladies fucking slay, and when compared to their peers in Crypta and Emasculator, they’re the most brutal of the three.

“Covenant of Deceit” is a stab at the Catholic Church, obviously; and it’s a huge Suffocation ripper with savage riffs and bludgeoning drums. “Mortem Opeterie” continues that beating with tastier, face-shredding riffs. Angry as a pack of rabid wombats is what this album is, and Castrator makes no fucking bones about it; they’re out for blood.

With themes touching on feminism, injustices, violence, and suffering, they have an awful lot to be pissed off about, considering that the current administration doesn’t seem to give two shits about women’s rights… but I digress.

The production from Defiled in Oblivion to Coronation of the Grotesque has improved by miles. Where the former was a bit murky, Incantation-ish cavernous production, Coronation of the Grotesque is crystal fucking clear. Every note, snare hit, and bass line sounds pristine, and it also helps that their technical prowess has developed as well, basic; yet still heavy riffs dominated the first album, whereas they’ve tightened it down and go straight for the throat.

“Remnants of Chaos” is another Suffocation-style stomper with some angry as hell double bass blasting and the beefiest riffing this side of the Mississippi. This is a crushing album; my neck hurts from banging my head to this beautiful beast.

“Deviant Miscreant” and “Psalm of the Beguiled” are two favorite tracks, each one bristling with deadly armaments; with the latter, they bring the tempo down to a simmering boil for maximum punishment and devastation.

“Discordant Rumination” keeps the Suffocation/ Morbid Angel precision blasts and scythe sharp riffs keep things interesting, however, it’s all building up to a blistering rendition of Exodus’ “Metal Command” it fucking rips, and it’s a great closer for this Death Metal monster.

With Coronation of the Grotesque, Castrator has grown in leaps and bounds, and without throwing shade; this is a helluva brutal album that is better than its predecessor. If you like this sort of thing and I believe you do… this needs to be in your collection; especially if you enjoy Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Emasculator, and Crypt,a or if you’re just looking for something new. I recommend giving Coronation of the Grotesque and Defiled in Oblivion a listen and then pick up copies of each to show your support.

Enter Sedimentum. Suppuration morphogénésiaque was at the top of my year-end list that year, and it was their phenomenal use of cavernous, depths of the molten earth production alá Incantation and Writhing. As of this writing, they have released two Demos and two splits and hopefully, there will be a new full-length following this mini album.

But we’re in the here and now and anything is good when these guys are involved so it was no surprise that I was beyond excited when I saw that they were releasing a new anything.

I’m not disappointed either; Derri​è​re les portes d’une arcane transcendante is a fucking infernal beast clocking in at a respectable 21:02 and Sedimentum bring their cavernous, Incantation style Death Metal to the slimy core of the earth to once again bludgeon the ears of the unsuspecting masses.

“Vilénie” gets it going right away with some eerie intro vibes that rise and fall like rogue waves before the music grabs you and throttles you with fists of enraged fury. For 7:01 minutes you’re taken on a roller-coaster ride. It’s a slow roller-coaster ride though, this is where Sedimentum shines; a slow death underneath a pile of rocks, a totally crushing delivery.

“Le labyrinthe sempiternel” is the second salvo from Sedimentum’s arsenal, and it’s absolutely deadly. Explosive blasting and that murky atmosphere of dread that permeate through the three tracks. It’s completely menacing how they switch from striding blasts into a rolling thunder double bass monstrosity.

The closing track “Inhumation céleste (Au carillon mordoré)” hits you in the in the chest like a shotgun blast. Incoming riffs act like rusty razors to flay the eardrum and bore deeper into the center of the brain. There’s a killer breakdown near the beginning of the song that’s seismic, and Sedimentum keeps changing tempos with the deftness of a Fencing master. It’s a 7:30-minute giant and brings the best conclusion possible.

If you love the groovy sounds of Incantation, and the mighty Writhing, Molder or Maul; or just cavernous Death Metal that drags you through a decaying swamp of riffs and earthshaking rhythms, then Derri​è​re les portes d’une arcane transcendante is the album for you. Get it right away.

After various splits etc…since the debut album, Spectral Voice finally released their second album and Sparagmos has us slogging through 4 songs and with a 45-minute run time, well this does ask a lot of the listener, does it not? The band also retains their signature doom/death approach, however, they have added numerous elements of funeral doom, which is my least favorite form of doom metal, due to the slogging drone of that type of music. The album cover of Sparagmos – the branch of creepy skulls, is befitting for this album.

At close to 12 minutes “Be Cadaver” opens the album with some atmospheric moments and it’s not until a minute later that the music fully forms and yes….the funeral doom, is evident, but definitely some Winter influence going on with the slow AF drums, and this is heavy…but droning as well. The song is in no hurry… let’s put it that way. The vocals come in and are cavernous in nature, as the pained and anguished vocals take hold of the listener and the gutturals come in quite nicely too. Slow, pained, and deliberate the song changes speed at the 6-minute marker, with the faster-paced riffing, but the song is still pretty slow until the song speeds up to a fast pace and this moment has a dISEMBOWELMENT feel and the tempo shift breaks up the monotony, which came before this. The dirgy funeral doom moments return and the atmospheric moments return to round this sucker out.

At 7:39 “Sinew Censer” is the shortest number on this album and begins eerily similar to dISEMBOWELMENT and the speed picks up pretty quickly with excellent vocals, alongside some vocal phaser effects. This song pounds pretty damn hard and the simple drum patterns work for this type of musical speed. The song slows down around the 2-minute mark and the dirge funeral death doom metal erupts….so very slow….with pained and whispered gutturals and some cool isolated double bass drums, at times. The song picks up the pace once again at a furious double-pounding speed – a most excellent song.

“Death’s Knell Rings in Eternity”, at close to 13 minutes, closes the album out with a very epic buildup. Nice drums – – this section played live, will go over nicely and I love the guitar riffing on this section. Entering the picture is that funeral doom portion…droning….it’s a mixed bag for me. Fans of Funeral Doom will go bonkers over these moments….for me, just too darn droning and hypnotic with the speed not changing. The song becomes more epic and atmospheric in the middle and it’s very heavy and sounds quite evil. The album ends similar, in how it began, with the atmospherics.

Spectral Voice’s debut, Eroded Corridors of Unbeing, I prefer quite a lot more to Sparagmos. Sparagmos does not move as much as the debut and the excessive added funeral doom moments, are just not my thing. I can take Funeral Doom in small spurts, but they are incorporated more than I would have liked on this release. The music is heavy and at times the epic atmospherics of the doom-death are pretty darn killer, as well as some of the tempo shifts, however, there are not enough of those moments, for me to keep going back to this album. If you love funeral doom, this will be right up your alley.

Of course, with this modern rise of old school metal continuing to grow more and more popular, we’re getting to the point where a lot of this scene is starting to get a little… monotonous. It’s a natural cycle that hits every “flavor of the day” style of metal at some point in it’s development, but it also provides an opportunity for bands to break through and make themselves stand out from the crowd – create something that’s just a little bit different, if not just a little bit better than their peers. To that end, Norway’s Sovereign do not seem interested in being just another throwback band in the sea of old school. Altered Realities feels, to this humble, idiotic metal reviewer, special. 

For starters, Altered Realities doesn’t just sound like a modern record produced to sound like it was recorded in the late 80s or early 90s, it just straight-up sounds of that era, full-stop. If you’d told me this was a long-forgotten, under-appreciated gem unearthed from the vaults of the Roadrunner Records archives, I wouldn’t hesitate to believe it. Second, the influences ringing through loud and clear on this record fall perfectly in line with some of my favorite acts of the time – namely, heaping doses of both early-Sepultura and Pestilence, with some of the thrashier elements of Dark Angel and groove ala Obituary to make sure they have pretty much all of your old school bases covered. Grab your Nike or Vans high tops and dive right in with opening track “Altered Reality” to be instantly transported back into your ’87 Ford Bronco listening to Testimony of the Ancients on cassette while nursing a couple “road sodas” (**I’m just curating a vibe here we at Teeth of the Divine do note condone the act of drinking while driving a vehicle. Don’t yell at us**) en route to some dingy underground Death Metal venue. The opening atmospherics and synths of  “Altered Reality” fall right in line with the eerie tones you’d expect from the era, and the two opening riffs that follow are absolute monsters. The kind of tone-setting, straight-to-your-face fretwork that will make any old school Death Metal fan feel all tingly in their nether parts. If this is just a “me” thing, I apologize for the visual.

If there’s anything to complain about the opening track, it’s 7:00 run time does meander a bit more than it probably needs to, but luckily is not indicative of this entire record, as the much more concise “Futile Dreams” follows with more focus and urgency,  getting right to the point with a blistering riff and frantic drumming that will leave anyone trying to windmill in time dizzy and out of breath. The full-throttle attack comes to a crushing halt at the end of the track, as the band dives headlong into another crossover-friendly breakdown that flows beautifully into “Nebular Waves,” which reverses course from the prior track to hit with a much more heaving, meticulous approach. It’s a true headbanger that just seethes with predatory malice, like a snow leopard confidently stalking it’s prey. When the band explodes with it’s full thrash fury about halfway through, it’s like that point in those insane nature videos where the snow leopard finishes its stalking and gives chase to a mountain goat on a sheer cliff. It’s a band fully unleashed, reaching maximum speed and aggression while still displaying deft, agile twists and turns along the way, right up until the chaotic maelstrom of soloing guitars and breakneck drumming at the 2:50 mark when the leopard finally catches its kill and the two go tumbling completely out-of-control down cliff faces and falling rocks, when you’re pretty sure neither animal is coming out of this alive (I know animal-on-animal murder isn’t on everyone’s watch list, but holy shit is it amazing to watch). ANYWAY, it’s a really exciting conclusion to what is certainly one of the band’s strongest tracks.

And the band’s display of dexterity and brutality certainly does not end there. Another of their finer tracks, “Counter Tech,” and probably my favorite track “The Enigma of Intelligence,” both put their golden-age Sepultura love on full display, nimbly see-sawing back and fourth between outright Thrash fury, and crushing Death Metal heft with an expert touch. The bridge/solo riff on the latter is perhaps my favorite on the album, the kind that simultaneously makes me want to charge head-first into a brick wall, and fall to my knees in outright worship of the mastery laid down by guitarists Vidar Fineidet and Tommy Jacobsen (both formerly of Norwegian Thrash outfit, Nocturnal Breed). And despite the relentless assault heard to this point of the record, “Synthetic Life” proves the band still have another gear in them, pressing the throttle through the floor and barreling into your eardrums with reckless abandon. But lest you think this is just a total blitzkrieg, the band breaks down into the kind of groovy, heavy stretch that’ll put your stank face on full effect, layering with yet another brilliant solo before kicking back into top gear and melting any faces that remain unblemished (and to this point, there probably ain’t many).

The finale of “Absence of Unity” may again be another example of a song that sticks around longer than it needs to (when you get to the 7:00 mark and it’s JUST THEN that you’re breaking down into doom riffs, you might be in a little bit of trouble), but it’s not without its moments of continued brilliance. Maybe just breaking it up into 2 or 3 different tracks might have been more what the doctor ordered, but this is really as big a fault as I can find here, and it hardly keeps me from heading right back to track one and blasting my way through the whole experience all over again. I freakin’ love Altered Realities, to the extend that I think I may well have found my new favorite Death Metal throwback amongst a sea of really good acts. Whether you’re still as big a fan of this kind of revival as ever, or you’re beginning to grow weary of it, I can’t recommend enough that you give Sovereign a spin. It’ll either only embolden your love affair, or maybe make you think twice about turning your back.

Aldrig i livet was their last full-length released during the height of crappy COVID and was an excellent album and this ep starts with “Død”.  Oh yeah, before I go further, Undergang sings in their native Danish language, but Dave sings so damn low….if he was singing in English I doubt you’d be able to pick out the lyrics.

His vocals are more like another instrument and the song starts with a nice mid-paced gallop before a higher yelp growl and then once the song slows down Dave’s filthy and vomitrocious vocals come in and they’re still sick AF, the song picks up the speed, but that 1:15 part, the slower gallop calls to mind “Slaughterhouse” from Mortician-christ ‘o mighty, so damn heavy and Dave sounds more gurgly than ever before – this is a huge plus in my book.  There are some dual filth double-tracked vocals towards the end of the song – brootal!!!

“Mælkehvid og gennemsigtigt” is up next and try saying that song 5x in a row in a drinking contest and you’ll sure to be wasted in less than five minutes.  The song picks up the pace right off the jump with the crazy drum rolls, which repeat again and that 1-minute mark is the super Holy Shit slow down……crawls……..like…..a…lurking….snake ready to devour you.  It’s dense and the doom-death moment is ungodly.  Taking cues from classic Autopsy and Asphyx and even a little Winter-that is how slow and sludgy this moment is.  It is killer and my favorite moment on the ep.  The song picks up the pace and those dual-layered vocals come back towards the end of the song.

“Livløs i en pøl af egne udskillelser” at five minutes is the longest song on the EP…beginning slow, with the isolated guitar riff, then drums, then back to the isolated guitar then into the quicker galloping speed.  The guitars are supremely heavy and all you Rottrevore fans are foaming at the mouth, I am sure.  This galloping speed works perfectly and the rhythm section is on fire and the growls and drums right before the 2.40 moment are so killer-crank this up loud..it’s a bit chaotic but works extraordinarily well.  The song gets into a lumbering crawl with some nice scorching razor guitar solos, piped in louder in the mix to pipe your head clean off those ragtag shoulders of yours…the solos go on for along time and then gets into more noisy sounding feedback laden elements.

“Misfarvning af liget” starts so sludgy and heavy and you know this has the perfect speed to open a live show with.  A circle pit would erupt quickly at this speed and the song picks up slightly..The 49-second is kind of like an homage to early Carcass’ “Ruptured in Purulence”.  You will know it once you hear it.  The song title of “Misfarvning af liget” roughly translates to discoloration of the corpse..ha, ha, ha.  I love it.  The song is disgusting and is putrid and those early Carcass nods are terrific- not to be missed and glad to see Undergang giving an homage to one of the originators of gore/grind.

The rest of De syv stadier af fordærv is excellent and even though the EP is 21 minutes, it provides the listener with many new tunes and if the band wants to take another year or two off before releasing the next album, they have this ep as the perfect stop-gap release before the next full-length.

Also; the band, unfortunately, had to cancel their recent US tour, so hopefully they get that sorted out and return to these parts in 2024.  I imagine they will be wanting to release the album that year and their long-term partnership with the studio in California, Earhammer Studios, I would assume would continue.  Regardless, support Undergang, this is a great, filthy, disgusting and sickening array of songs!

Then I started researching the band and discovered its actually composed of some dudes from some pretty heavy and varied hitters in the UK scene, including Abyssal, Falloch and Scordatura as well as some veterans from some more obscure, but damn fine acts like doomsters Of Spire & Throne and common act for most of the members at some point, Acatalepsy ( 4/5 of the band).

As if the aforementioned opener wasn’t enough to cement the band’s clear influence, the next 9 tracks really lean hard into the Gateways of Annihilation and Here in After hues with a focus on discordant, churning, mid-paced lumbers and lots of scrawling cosmic solos. There are plenty of blast beats, but Ageless Summoning is clearly at its best on crumbling lurching tracks like the aforementioned opener as well as “Epoch of Souls”,  “Among the Worms”, “Incarnate Nothingness” or “Retribution Eternal” (which has more of an Immolation vibe) and doomier closer “Salvation of Ash”.

My only minor gripe is the production- while certainly effective appropriately murky and heavy, it’s not very clear, and the riffs the guitars are trying to render sometimes get a bit washed out, more noticeably in the faster parts/blast beats – the title track and “Towards the Fractal Absolute” are prime examples, the massive slower moments are quivering, heaving hypnotic brilliance. The faster parts sound like running water.

But that does not change the fact this is one of my favorite Dark Descent Releases of the last few years, an impressive feat considering the label’s consistently stellar discography.

However, I have a beard, and long hair, and have been dating someone for a little while I’m not even 100% sure likes me. What I’m saying is that I am a patient man, so this album was seemingly built for me. What I dismissed as another Portal clone, despite thoroughly enjoying Sacred White Noise at first, revealed itself eventually.

When it comes to the album and its distorted, wonky, yet somehow foreboding guitars in “Solar Witch,” I was befuddled. The bass has a definite presence amongst the chaos, but that chaos is indeed difficult. Even when it does slow down, relatively speaking, it is still a wall of noise. Production on an album with this sort of swelling hive of sound can only be dizzying. The fact that one can still hear all the instruments is a feat unto itself, but as a listener, you know what you’re getting, which is the purpose of an intro.

The second track, “Surgical Utopian Love,” sits at around 10 minutes. There are some more atmospheric sections, such as the one starting around 3 minutes in. No matter how long it lasts with its bending strings, sustains, and sparse drums, you just know it’s going to end. It lasts nearly 4 minutes and goes into that dissonant death metal territory inhabited by Ulcerate and Imperial Triumphant, not so much Portal as I originally surmised. While the guitar lick is repetitive, it’s to an almost hypnotic quality.

In the middle of the album is a 7-plus minute song called “Burning Kingdom of Now,” which is entirely relatable. 7 minutes isn’t long when it comes to this band, and somehow a song with that title feels brighter and happier than the rest. If it weren’t for those pesky, vicious roars… Around the 4 ½ minute mark, I can feel it building to a crescendo that unfortunately never transpires.

Directly after is the track “Hungry Ghosts.” That’s understandable. Ghosts are transparent and can’t maintain food because of a lack of organs and pretty much everything else. They must be starving to death. Wait… Where was I?

Anyway, to close it out is “Mind of the Sun.” It’s shorter at under 5 minutes and sounds far more immediate than anything else. It just goes to show that if you take these songs track-by-track, it’s not going to register, but when the album is absorbed in its entirety, the way it ends in a flurry of anxious drums, guitars, bass, and vocals makes perfect sense.

There are only 7 tracks spanning 47 minutes, so that’s an average of nearly 7 minutes. That’s a lot to demand of a listener when it comes to Thantifaxath’s brand of festering, whirling blackness. The glaring flaw is, as mentioned earlier, crescendos or “big moments” that never quite arrive. It’s the post-black metal version of “edging.” However, that is not to disparage the (w)hole. It’s highly enjoyable, but only with patience will that reward come to light.

And so the always reliable Dark Descent Records came to the rescue with the third album from long-running (these guys were knocking around in the early 90s but didn’t release an album until 2013)  Texas death metal act Imprecation ( ‘Curse’). With veteran/former members of the Texas metal scene (notably black metal acts Bahimiron and Averse Sefira), Imprecation culls from the formative years of early American Death metal, notably Incantation, Morbid Angel and Immolation.

Rumbling, churning, 90s-based, atonal death metal is the order of the day with an excellent emphasis on slower, murky moments and some keyboard-driven atmospherics amid the chaos. The 39-minute, 10-song album is pure old school, down to the production and gruff shouts and rasps from vocalist David Herrera are free from anything modernized, clean, clicky, or polished. That is not to say it sounds awful, far from it as the guitars have that weighty but rough, and rusty tone that Incantation perfected in the 90s. Especially the slower, more doomy scrawls like the start of “Ars Goetia”, “Thorn’s Hate” or the back end of  “Devil’s Furnace”, and to be honest parts of all the tracks. But there is plenty of the blasting murkiness that their peers are known for as heard on “Forward the Spears”.

The aforementioned keyboards (rendered by founding member and drummer Ruben Elizondo who sadly passed away due to COVID in 2021)  effectively add a spooky sense of horror movie-styled ambiance here and there as heard in the opener “Reborn in Fire”, “Thorn Hate”,  “Bringer of Sickness” “and “Stigmata Wounds” and” and killer album closer “No Kingdom Awaits (Let Us Prey)”.

Ok, do I get a “1 week Lorna Shore free” coin now?

Opening with “Dawa of Yousafzai” is like a boulder to the cranium, with deep, guttural vocals from Clarissa Badini. Each track heaves with malice, they’re like small, heavily armed minions trudging out to battle. Tracks like “Tormented by Atrocities”, “Inquisition Sins” and “Sinister Mind” are steel gauntlets with claws punches to the face. The Venom cover at the end is ultra-tasty, as well.

Speaking of production, its BIG. Think Hate Eternal, Morbid Angel sized production especially the Inferno and Kingdoms Disdained, respectively. “Defiled in Oblivion” sounds great on a car stereo by the way. Crazy confession, but I sort of gauge how much I like an album by how it sounds in my car, rolling double bass, sickle sharp guitars. That’s what I look for, especially in a Death Metal album. I recommend this highly, particularly for you folks that like Venom Prison, Hate Eternal, Morbid Angel and even Decapitated.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to and absorbing the tornado of brutality that Castrator has created in their debut album. I’ll be anxiously awaiting a second release from these absolutely insane women. I mentioned Venom Prison throughout this review because of Castrator’s lyrical themes: feminism and violence against Women. They deliver this message in a savage and concise way, that hits the guts and grabs your attention in the fastest way possible, Death Metal fury.

Well, Corpsessed certainly likes the 4-year gaps between albums as it was 2018 until we got album number 2, Impetus of Death, and now we finally get album number three from one of Dark Descent’s flagship bands (I’d say Blood Incantation and Desolate Shrine are arguably the others?). And as I like to tell my wife, ‘it’s quality, not quantity. (Yes that’s a 9-year throwback to a wife reference from the Dagger & the Chalice EP review). And yes, it’s also worth the wait.

Continuing the band’s murky, doomy, crumbling take on death metal, these Finns are the absolute masters of their sickly, nauseating craft. Once again with guitarist/ vocalist Matti Mäkelä’s production and master, which although seemingly ‘cleaner’ than before, is still just oozingly massive, especially in the album’s many slower, doomier segments that crawl like a 2000lb slug. It’s not quite Desolate Shrine doom/death as there is plenty of tumbling, scrawling blast beats that will appeal to label mates Gorephilia and Hyperdontia and such. It’s truly become ‘Dark Descent’s’ immediately identifiable sound.

With fitting song titles like “Death-Stench Effluvium”, “Relentless Entropy” and “Profane Phlegm”, you know exactly what you are getting here; a miasmal, discordant, fetid churn with ample moments of crawling, loping menace. Nothing sums up Corpsessed’s sound like the fly buzzing opening of “Death-Stench Effluvium”.

As with prior albums, Corpsessed shine (though hardly a fitting word) when they focus on the slower more heaving, crawling riffs like the end of “Relentless Entropy”, the aforementioned ‘”Death-Stench Effluvium”, epically miserable “Spiritual Malevolence”, sickly, hacking mid section of “Profane Phlegm” and 6 +minute closer “Pneuma Akathartos”, the album’s lumbering ending standout. But certainly more up-tempo, churning numbers like “Calling Void” and “Sublime Indignation” are effective, filthy blasters as well.

Another winner for Corpsessed and Dark Descent Records, who seem to be back on track to match their 2011- 2016 output, where they were absolutely un fuck-with-able.

Actually 6, since the opening track is an intro and it’s like a moody classical piece before “Echoes in the Halls of Vanity” comes blasting through your speakers.  Killer rumbling heaviness which has tank treads the size of 1,000 pachyderms.  The rumbling heaviness is one of the heaviest things you will hear in 2022.  The track picks up a little speed and then traverses into more mid-paced action with some guitar soloing going on, this section at the 2.20 part reminds me of Desecresy, one of my favorite and also Finnish death metal bands. The guitar tone makes up for the last album, which I though did not have as much luster as previous albums.  The sound on this is barbarically sinister.  Heavy and pure evil.  The varying vocal tones, from pained anguished vocals to a variety of tones truly add to some killer listening experiences.  Whip this bad boy up with your airpods in and fuhgeddaboudit.

“The Dying World” begins with some mid-paced heaviness and before you’re ready to say “I have to eat more SpaghettiOs” the speed and intensity of the song increases at warp speed.  Swirling blast beats dominate this section truly hellbent on removing your head from that corpse of your lifeless body.  Some atmospheric moments with a bit of drone, with the ethereal guitar spacey feel and then the slower/doomier section at the 3.30 section is so heavy you could potentially mess your shorts. The doom death approach could not have come across more natural sounding and the awesome growls during this section makes this writer shed a little tear.

“The Silent God” is 10+ minutes and encompasses the Desolate Shrine sound to a T.  Killer blasting (check out those cymbal hits) and a memorable guitar tone and creative riffing.  The song switches back and forth to the blasts, mid-paced moments which further get into the doomier side of things and riffing drenched in atmosphere which just happens to be a staple of the Desolate Shrine sound and approach.  This song rules, plain and simple.

“The Furnace of Hope” is not only a great song title, but also a monstrous song, befitting to close the album with this track.  Fast parts erupt only to bring things to a screeching halt and into a doom passage that is so darn heavy your skin will be sloughing off mere moments after this section begins.  More atmospheric guitar moments and the song is a moody bastard of a tune.  Befitting end to this album, which bests the previous one.

Fires of the Dying World is another crushing album by Desolate Shrine.  One of the best death metal bands out there, who’s sound matches their name.  They are one of the darkest and moodiest sounding death metal bands in the genre.  The band continues operating as a well oiled machine with LL taking on all instruments and MT and RS providing the various vocals.  Their continuity in staying intact makes their albums seamless, while still incorporating some added nuances.  For this album I would say the added doom atmosphere-depressive, more so than previous albums, shows their maturation as a band.  This album destroys-get it now!

Realms of Exquisite Morbidity is their debut album and 6 songs in 33 minutes is the perfect length. Well the interlude “Realms” is like a waste of 2 minutes. I’d actually rather have had a real song. Regardless that’s my only gripe on the album as “Channeling Impure Apparitions” comes in with a creepy bell sounding the alarm. Thunderous drums and fans of Incantation will no doubt love this. The plodding riff which enters is so damn heavy. A few different melodies thrown in as the rumbling almost Bolt Thrower-ish comes in to destroy your bones before the song gets to that heavy slow down that goes into a faster passage. The 2.30 slow down with killer 90’s style vocals erupt and this moment with the drums and slower moment is one of the best on the album. Nice cymbal hits where the vocalist growls on point each time before a killer old school death metal speed enters, double pounding and then ripping into a killer beat. It’s lunacy. The slow down after the blast with the ethereal guitar solo appears to have been recorded in hell. The solo picks up speed and then the heavy rumbling erupting next is brutal dark n grimy bliss. Now that’s folks is how you open your debut album.

“Usurping the Pantheon Crown” with the out of control double bass speed will rip your head off. The guitar melodies add to the monstrosity this song is. The start n stop slow down doom death approach which erupts is so gosh darn terrific a tear streams down this writer’s face. I’m like this band has barely been around but THEY GOT IT!!!!! The rumbling heaviness with the tank tread double bass will remind you of some Asphyx too. The speed picks up with a guitar solo then into a mid paced I’m gonna lip your head off moment. Excellent drum rolls and a quick mention the snare drum is great. Organic, old school n natural. Love this part. Then some blast beats. The song is not over when it sounds like it may be. Hang in there for the plodding deathly doom moment enter. Holy poop on a stick this riff is ungodly. The drumming is great with the flip flopping double bass and listen for that fuzzy bass guitar. What’s killer is this song ends and “Belial Rebirth”, the longest song here, starts with fuzzy bass guitar right off the jump. Similar to Mortician like heaviness. The song rumbles before the blast beat and the barking vocals will murder your soul as if Ronnie Garvin “The Man with the Hands of Stone” is using your face like a speed bag like he would do in 1982 in Atlanta’s early NWA wrestling days. Regardless we get a meandering of tempo that goes into an Incantation stylized riff and it sounds like 1992 all over. Faster moments and then solos and then right into this doom death metal crawl with phenomenal guitar melodies and then a terrific rhythm section with captures the listeners attention. This part is one of the best in all of metal for 2021. It’s memorable, beyond heavy and tight but also catchy.

Outside of the interlude the other 2 songs are also grand slams in my book. I must mention the Holy Shit moment is “Ceremonial Decapitator” at the 4.31 part. The song stops. But it’s not over. An amazing fuzzy bass guitar slide comes in and is isolated as it’s played brilliantly as drums and guitars enter and the buildup and then into the dirge like heaviness really levels cities from the USA to all the way to Finland, if you can believe this.

Realms of Exquisite Morbidity from beginning to end is excellent. Malignant Altar is special. Playing a 90’s era doom death, but sounding fresh due to their own nuances and spins they put on this style. The fact this album is played with such deliberate and tight conviction really ears this as one of my favorite albums all year and I’ve listened to this album at minimum 50x already. The production is great and with music this heavy and dense the mix is perfect because nothing is buried, which sometimes tends to happen with this death metal style. Buy or Die!

Proscription continues the trend of him writing evil and heavy music.  Yes there are many nods to Incantation, in some respect, and “I, the Burning Son” really gets things going with some monster blasting and some evil melodies and then “Red Sacrament Black Communion” comes to the table with some interesting guitar melodies, which are melodic, while the music is punishing and the vocals of Christbutcher are deep and angry.  There’s some incredible nods to the early 90’s death metal scene and some of the blasting is just ruthless.  Excellent atmospheric and evil melodies towards the end of the song.

“Voiceless Calling”, their single for 2020, has a monster opening drum buildup where I feel as if the armies of hell are marching forward to crush all who do not believe in heavy and dark metal.  The vocals are deep with some chanting parts going on simultaneously.  Some mid-paced rumbling heaviness, just like the beginning returns and then the faster parts with the layered vocals and blasts.  The isolated guitar at the 2.10 part goes right into a slower section with a neat guitar solo, which is piped in louder in the mix to cause head explosions worldwide.  As the solo continues, the music alternates between faster and blasting sections.  This is a fine-tuned and super evil track, again pulling some Incantation parts out of their sleeve.  “Blessed Feast of Black Seth” is the longest song at over 6 minutes beginning with a soft and low buildup with more of the guitar riffing and tone that Christbutcher has perfected over the years which incorporates a bunch of black metal riffage and bringing forth quite a bit of evil sounding death metal too.  A lot of angry barking type of vocals and excellent drum work.  Some of the pounding heaviness calls to mind Behemoth, like around the Demigod era, where some of the brutality is relentless.

Proscription’s Conduit is a damn fine blackened/death metal album with many nods to other bands, but there is that Finnish flair with those guitar melodies and atmosphere that is original in nature, still.  Christbutcher has that formula for success with combining many of his methods and techniques from his other current and past bands as well as trickling in some various atmospheric components showcasing some of his songwriting expansion.  The production is very good for this style of music, since I’ve heard many other bands play this style and having a muddy production in the process which is a bummer.  The album cover is extremely creepy with the demonic entity on the front – it goes along with the musical and songwriting theme of the album.  If you have yet to hear Proscription, give it a go, like their FB page, get Conduit in order to bolster your blackened/death metal collection, because this album is played with much conviction.

For a band with a style that oozes familiarity does this soon to be released album push as far into the terrifying cosmos as the cover might suggest?  No, not really.  Is that perfectly fine?  Yes, very much fine.  Of all musical dynamics, the production is most noticeably advanced.  Overall fans will be glad to hear no heaviness was compromised in the progression of this band’s sound.

In the Eyes of Nothing is notably heftier than 2017’s Severed Monolith which definitely had more of the famous chainsaw guitar tone as mimicked by OSDM reenactors like Entrails, but given a modern crunch and which had an overall compression that narrowed it’s sonic field.  Here we have a high quality depth and warmth overall.  If Gorephilia are a musically analog to the cell-harvesting alien of John Carpenter’s The Thing when it escapes back into the base station.  No longer confined to the shed but now has the space to absorb, and grow into it’s horrific maximum potential.

Gorephilia play it smart starting the album with an immediate catchy banger in “Walls of Weeping Eyes”.  That initial riff is why we all love death metal to begin with.  Nothing matches a menacing, infectious riff from huge heaving guitars.  The energy remains quite high through “Ouroboran Labyrinth” until death-doom dedication of track 4, “Devotion upon the Worm” which snakes and winds at 80bpm like slow motion footage of a sandworm rhythmically swimming through the sand sea of Arrakis.  Again, smartly sequenced, track 5 “Consensus” is a 1:30 interlude.  Nothing crazy beyond screeching drone and modulating string bending but it functions to reset the listener’s attention for act two.  “Simplicity of Decay” follows and does an admirable Morbid Angel impression with some focused M.C. Escher solos.  “Not for the Weak” is maybe the tamest song that grooves and chugs unceremoniously.  Not as smartly placed “Death Dream” is a short reverbed guitar and bass interlude that links to final song “Ark of the Undecipherable”.  Frankly, a rather ho-hum end that rather than serving as an exclamation of a climatic journey in fact highlighted that that album arch is mostly a long decay, sustain, and then sudden release.

Fans of the band are aware that vocalist Nemesis sent himself to the realms beyond in 2018 which I can only imagine emotionally disturbed the other guys and lead to a logistic shake up leading to guitarist Jukko Aho to step forward on vocals.  Brilliantly, Jukko’s style is quite close in execution to Nemesis. Personally, Nemesis’ vocals were a key attraction for me as a fan of uncompromisingly low, unintelligible, death bellows.  While Jukko gets goddamn close, and really do sound great, they aren’t Mariana’s Trench depth so for me a bit of the band’s charm left with Nemesis.   Comparatively, Severed Monolith had an exciting, difficult to contain live wire nature between the unwieldy solos and adrenalin cranked drumming that made the plodding atmospheric parts most welcome.

In the Eye of Nothing is a deserving entry into their discography but, while it does contains some of the bands most immediately memorable riffs and biggest sound, there is a notable energy missing.

Australian power trio Faceless Burial offer a bludgeoning antidote to the woes of the current global climate on sophomore platter Speciation. Musical evolution can be a truly wondrous thing when said evolution goes in a direction the listener is pleased with. It proves a winning scenario for Faceless Burial, morphing from their rugged old school death roots and more straightforward bludgeon, into a fully developed and advanced entity of destruction.

Speciation is a bulldozing album and impressive leap forward for the band, their eloquent butchery angling down increasingly complex and progressive corridors. Influences ranging from the mighty Suffocation, to mid-era Death, and early Gorguts, inform but never dilute a sound grounded in the turf of classic old school death. Faceless Burial’s obvious appreciation of old school death is updated for modern times, executed with oodles of style, finesse, and character. A variety of components combine in perfect harmony, as mutating progressive and technical turns collide with barbaric aggression, searing blasts, and wrecking ball grooves. However, the technical smarts and intricate arrangements do not come at the cost of other key components, such as brutality, catchy riffs, and memorable writing. Each song features numerous noteworthy musical elements, syncing intelligent, progressive diversions with classic old school death, complete with in-your-face blasts, guttural vocals, thick pummelling tones, and addictive riffs.

Right off the bat, Faceless Burial get down and dirty with the dense and dynamically structured opener “Worship.” The song is a powerful, riffy beast chock full of complex rhythms, choppy, intricate, yet coherent guitar work, swift tempo shifts, and early album examples of the band’s excellent riffcraft. From here on the good times keep rolling. While only six songs feature, there is a weightiness to Speciation, in both depth and content. The lengthy songs are so well composed and developed that interest never waivers. Even the shortest, most concise track, the awesomely titled “Irreparably Corpsed,” packs tons of energy, aggression, and labyrinthine twists into an action packed assault, which is frenetic and off-kilter in the best kind of way. Momentum is never lost as the album hurtles towards its climax. For example, compelling later album highlight “Spurning Catarrhal Gruel” is a knotty juggernaut which bends, writhes, and mutates in exciting and unexpected ways, built on cornerstones of complexity, groove, and hammering riffs.

When death metal bands venture down progressive pathways, sometimes the risk of diluting aggression and brutality hovers. Thankfully, this never becomes an issue, with Faceless Burial ensuring both elements are key cogs. Even amidst the supreme technical proficiency on display, the unrelenting barrage is always in forward motion, as eloquent leads and solos are skilfully threaded into the fray (check stunning closer “Ravished to the Unknown”), adding shreds of melody. Finding any major issues with Speciation is fruitless, such is the quality and consistency of the album. On one hand, while Faceless Burial put a fresh perspective on a classic death formula, I guess there is nothing particularly original on offer. Meanwhile, the beefy, indecipherable growls of bassist/vocalist Alex Macfarlane are a little one-dimensional and lacking in variation. However, these are relatively picky and minor gripes that do not significantly detract from an otherwise exceptional album.

Faceless Burial took me by surprise with this advanced platter of barnstorming, progressively aligned, but bludgeoning death, rearranging familiar influences from the past into their own intelligent modern platter of top shelf death. Terrific production and killer artwork tie together the whole package, resulting in one of the stronger death metal albums of the year.

I bought into the hype of Lantern’s previously release, but it overall left me with a cold feeling. Not that cold, frosty black metal feeling, but that “what you thought was going to be a good thing, but didn’t turn out as well as you hoped, like all of my romantic relationships” feeling. It garnered some good and even stellar reviews throughout metaldom, so I’m thinking I was in the minority.

To begin the album is the 7-minute track called “Strange Nebula,” which wastes very little time getting moving with some excellent drumming and a solid lead to go along with the blasting. The vocals begin about a minute in with a pulverizing riff. While it has gone through a couple of changes, I noticed myself looking down at the time on the track, only to realize it was about half over. More changes occur, but they’re not different enough for me to distinguish from the last riff. A coherent, decent opener, but I’m not impressed.

A shorter track follows in the next one, which is called “Beings.” It’s not bad, but it is ultimately unremarkable as well. “Portraits,” which follows immediately after, starts out with a slightly different vocal delivery and a cleanly played guitar. It doesn’t take long, but then again, it doesn’t have long, since the track itself barely eclipses 2 minutes, for it to return to a familiar sounding riff. Despite it being the shortest cut so far, it is the most impactful, and is a path the band should consider traveling a bit more.

“Cauldron of Souls” stood out to me as well because of the lead, which begins as buried about a minute-and-a-half in. With about two minutes left, there’s dead silence, then another lead comes in, which lasts for about a minute. The last 30 seconds or so are the best of this album so far.

We’ve skipped one, but let’s talk about the final track “Monolithic Abyssal Dimensions.” It is indeed monolithic. The entire album is 39 minutes. 14-plus of which come from this track. There’s nothing about it too off the beaten path until about 4 minutes in. This is where the vocals take a break for a minute and we have some semi-clean guitar. Another minute later, we have the same, except the arrangement is different and a nice guitar lead occurs. It almost sounds like power metal for a moment before going back into the blasting. There are a few other great parts throughout the track.

However, “great parts” is how the album can be defined, in my opinion. There are great sections throughout, but nothing that really sticks. Those great parts may sound good. There are certainly some headbangable riffs, but they frequently last a short amount of time and are not repeated. This is album number 3 for these guys and they still sound like a band struggling to write repeatable songs. It’s not completely irredeemable as there are qualities to enjoy, but after many listens, nothing stands out. It’s a pass for me.

Like a point blank, sawed off shotgun blast to the face, O. o. C. destroys right from the get-go. “Pounding Hooves of Shrapnel” tears out of the gates brandishing the bands speedy and visceral take of old-school blackened death; the song slices and bludgeons in that “Maze of Torment”(Morbid Angel) styled influence of fast, twisting riffs, ripping solos and blastbeats of yesteryear, and not a downtuned to Satan’s bowels moment to be found. No, this is just gloriously old-school patterned, denim and leather, furious real deal metal. The track sets up the rest of the album’s sound and presentation perfectly, letting listeners know where O. o. C. stands and what can be expected form the remaining offerings found on Summary Execution At Dawn.

With nary a dud or bad track to be found on Summary…, where you stand with Oath of Cruelty‘s said style is what will ultimately determine how their material will hit and stick with you. Though I have a hard time seeing any fans of extreme metal passing on the beatings of “Pathogenic Winds of Swarm”, or having a distaste for the likes of  the album’s title track, with its speedy thrashing assault, ripping solos, and blasting battery, or turning a fickle nose up to the wonderfulness of the Hell Awaits meets Altars of Madness pummel of “Into the Chamber of Death”. Hell, they even tackle a cover of Merciless‘ “Denied Birth” in true ripping form. From top to bottom, Summary… reeks of nostalgic brutality in a most superb way. A sturdy and primal, but not lo-fi, production bolstering these songs adds to the old-school essence of Summary…, and it works marvelously at rendering these tracks even that much more authentic. Oath of Cruelty doesn’t come across as a band plagiarizing the old-school, they simply come off as old-school. An awesome feat in and of itself.

When I was a younger kid in the early to mid ’80’s, my two older sisters shared a bedroom. In this bedroom hung a fold out magazine poster of Van Halen‘s David Lee Roth in all of his trying to be seductive douchey glory, sporting spandex pants/leggings, pulled way to low (nobody wants to see your pubes Dave!), a frilly/puffy shirt, and a multitude of pink scarves, all while making some atrocious kissy duck face sneer. I hated this poster, and I credit it for my continued distatste of all that is Diamond Dave. My sisters, on the other hand, loved it. Gazing fondly into this blasphemy, I can only imagine the type of thoughts they must have had. It’s sickening to both the mind and body. Alas, who am I to scoff or belittle the worship of a fan’s idol?

Why do I bring this little tid bit of useless knowledge from my life up in this review? Well, because I can see the members of O. o. C. having a few of these posters hanging about in their garages or jam space. Not of David Lee Roth mind you, but with the sneering images of Trey Azagthoth, David Vincent (Morbid Angel), Pete Helmkamp, Gene Palubicki (Angelcorpse), or even Tom Angelripper (Sodom). It only makes sense that they too have stared fondly at the images of their mighty influencers as well, much like my demented sisters did with old Diamond Dave, though for way different reasons. At least their images are surely 100% free of dick hair.

In their existence since 2011 Blood Incantation has garnered a well-deserved reputation for their raging live show and yes live, they’re one of the best out there folks. How could they top Starspawn??? An album that broke through the death metal glass ceiling with respect to how creative and innovative they are. Through their constant touring, and as you’re reading this they just wrapped up a super long tour with Immolation, the band has continued to hone their craft and Hidden History of the Human Race may just very well be their best effort. With Jeff Barrett on bass, Morris Kolontyrsky on guitar, Isaac Faulk on drums and the brain child Paul Riedl, behind the band, on guitars and vox,

Blood Incantation are taking death metal to new and exciting heights and actually help to further this great genre. As with their previous album, there are not many songs on this album, only 4, with one being an instrumental, in the form of “Inner Paths (To Outer Space)” and while Antti Boman of Demilich fame lays a nice ending growl to the instrumental, I have and will continue to not be a fan of death metal instrumentals. Just my proclivity, but this one actually captures my interest and I do like it.

“Slave Species of the Gods” opens with some raging blasting and soloing and the first thing popping out is the production. Nothing beats the true organic nature of this analogue recording. You can feel the warmth and heaviness of the bass and the drums sound monstrous. Multiple pinch harmonics permeate the listeners’ head at the 90 second mark. The powerful rhythm section has only tightened over the last several years. The blasting 30 seconds later with Paul’s deep and powerful cavernous vocals and then the slow down with the guitar phase shifter effect is utterly mind-blowing. The blasting and slow down with the guitar effect comes right back before the mid paced ferocious and pummeling music lops off your pathetic head and goes right into a vortex blast. Nice other worldly guitar solo towards the end of the song too. One of the best opening songs I’ve ever heard. “The Giza Power Plant” has a great opening with the guitars, bass and pinch harmonics that will slice apples from here to the Crab Nebula with one snap of your fingers. The song begins slow with some atmospheric effects and I love the isolated guitar part at the 1 minute mark before the guitar solo comes in and the song picks up speed. Some excellent signature time changes going on and then a mid-eastern guitar section comes in as the song gets into a more epic and dreamlike sequence. This section with the various instrumentation and bass guitar strumming and a little spoken word beneath the growls-well christ almighty, just a real amazing part that B.I. must further expand upon on future releases. Nice emotive and epic feel and cool ending with some blasting and stop and start blasting that crushes.

Ending with the 18 minute “Awakening from the Dream of Existence to the Multidimensional Nature of Our Reality (Mirror of the Soul)” this is only the second time I have debuted my format of Anatomy of a Song, which highlights an extraordinary song and this song is monumental. From the frightening blasts to some of Paul’s finest vocal work the song has a lot of time changes early on with insane guitar riffing which may have some Incantation/Immolation nods and even some Gorguts. The bending of the chords and there are many Holy Shit moments. One of them is at the 3.23 section with Paul’s grunt and then the song blasting away with death metal riffing that is rarely seen to this level in terms of originality. The song gets into some atmospheric cavernous slower paced moments before a monstrous blasting section with swirling rhythms and great soloing and the blast time changes are some of the best I’ve heard in recent memory. The ambiance at the 5.30 section will transport you and fido into outer space, if you’re not already there and this is a very tranquil, calming new age moment. The guitar riffing at the 7.20 moment brings the music out with some awesome drumming where I think every piece of the drum kit is being used all at once, I swear. Then more soloing over the blazing vortex grind blasting. The slower moments return towards the end of the 12 minute marker and this grinding crawl almost has a bit of a European flair to it, from the 90’s and the song gradually gets slower before the ambiance of the earlier section returns to close out this wonderful album.

The album cover is the classic 1970s artwork by Sci-Fi artist Bruce Pennington and mixed in with the green Blood Incantation logo is perfect. The band could not have selected a better piece of art for Hidden History of the Human Race. Blood Incantation deserve all the praise they continue to get. Live, they are outstanding-they blow the majority of bands out there out the fucking door. As people, since I’ve met them a few times and conversed with Paul he and the rest of the band are down to earth and super nice guys.

And then let’s talk about their actual recordings-dark lord almighty-so much music crammed into these songs, but still memorable and played by aliens-because that’s how crazy their music is. They take their music seriously and once again toppling the death metal genre and turning it upside down and actually bettering the genre. I think I own more Blood Incantation merch then any other band out there. Head on over to Dark Descent and hope some of the awesome new shirts are still in stock and obviously buy Hidden History of the Human Race, in the format of your choice.

Easily one of the best albums of 2019, by easily one of the most remarkable and best bands in the underground. Yes, I predict Blood Incantation’s popularity to only grow stronger and farther reaching. Simply put Hidden History of the Human Race is godly. Buy or Die!

If you’ve never yet experienced Lvcifyre‘s temptations then you’re in luck, as Sacrament is just as perfect of a starting point for one’s introduction to the band as is previous release Svn Eater. I’ll be honest with you, Lvcifyre isn’t for the mama’s boy death metal fans. If the most extreme you like to go is Kataklysm and Obituary, or bands of similar ilk, then Lvcy probably isn’t for you; but if Blood Incantation covering Lykathea Aflame (too obscure of a reference? How about Nile covering Akercocke) sounds like a divine proposition, then by all means, dig, feverishly if you will, into the pleasures of Lvcifyre.

“The Greater Curse” gets the ball rolling on Sacrament in fine form, its deep bellowing and oppressive death metal culls with a predilectory black metal aesthetic running amongst and even parallel to the material and sets up the EP as a whole quite nicely. Thick and tight, with nary a proper hook in sight (though that brief Morbid Angel like riffage at the 6:25 mark sure is bliss and close to being out and out catchy), just blasting, droning, grimey death that vibes with the aplomb of labelmates Corpsessed and Spectral Voice. Discordant and atonal, yet only in aural illusion and not actually either of those at all in reality.

Eerie off-kilter beginning of wind effects, bass, and some gnarly spoken death word/whispers start out “Death’s Head on a Crown”. The track has a blackish nature about it, with everything really coming in and opening up at the 1:18 mark with an all out dirty death metal assault. Moaning guitar lines, huge and heavy riffing and an unrelenting drum performance combine with murky yet clear roars too accompany the earthy death dirge in a city leveling display of destruction. Driving in their untraditional nature, the song is dense and full of intricacies hiding all throughout and within the track. “Shadowy Wing” chimes in with being not only the shortest track on this five song affair, clocking in at a mere minute and twenty-nine seconds, but also comes in as the EP’s most bizzarre offering. Blasting and dismal death metal in a stop-gap structure with droning and demented spoken death extremity mixed within said gaps. Short yet brutal, and honestly, epic and climactic, as well as unnerving and agitated.

Title track and personal favorite, “Sacrament” shares a lot in nature and structure with “Shadowy Wing” but with an additional running time of four and a half minutes, there is obviously a lot more meat on the bone to chew on. The track is a controlled chaos that pierces with a dank pummeling of death that obliterates as well as it creates. A serpentine path that staggers just as much as it slithers. Sometimes it seems as if every member is playing a different song at the same time, but it works in its askewed and queer approach. Then bam! You’re hit with neck swirling greatness at the 2:52 that just slays in a misanthropic and a Miskatonic way, if you know what I mean. Props to vocalist/guitarist, T. Kaos, as the man hits the gamut of vocal assortedness. From growls, screams, gurgles, whispers, chants, spoken word, buried murmurs, groans, moans, and even the bleeps, sweeps, and the creeps, the man covers it all, helping meld a track full of awesomeness, as well as dismalness.

Lvcifyre chooses to close out Sacrament with “Morderca”, a cover from the not so well known Polish thrash act, Kat. The track is actually a great fit for the band. It’s dirty and fast paced thrash reminiscent of old Sodom and the likes. Hell, they even pull off the Polish lyrics. Not too shabby, not too shabby at all. It’s good and fun and not really much else honestly. I can definitely see Kat as being one of many of Lvcy‘s influences, so the cover ends up working well and making a lot of sense, and at the very least, it caused me to check out a band I was never familiar with, so thats fucking cool. When it’s all said and done I don’t have any real founded fault with any of Sacrament. While it doesn’t make quite the impact that their last full-length made, it is a more than solid return from the band and it admirably acheives what I assume is the initial point of an EP release; to keep yourself in the listeners’s light, and to build anticipation for what lies ahead. I think in that respect, Sacrament is a hands down winner.

“Across The Expanse of Nothing” opens up with some come guitar lines with drum fill work following the guitar lines before blasting and technical riff flurries commence.  At Nearly eight minutes this is one of the longest tracks on the album.  Malthusian definitely put a great deal of time into these massively intense arrangements. There is no shortage of riffs on this album and they seem to follow a similar type of phrasing for the most part. There is a sick march section at about 2:20.  Super catchy. Some the track continues to pick up tempo.  The drum work so far is truly relentless. “Sublunar Hex” opens with one of the catchier opening riffs on the album.  This could be considered one of the thrashier songs on the album in terms of drum parts, although for the most part it is a blast fest.

“Primal Attunement – The Gloom Epoch” is total Robert Vigna of Immolation worship riff wise. Opening up with mid paced strummed chords followed by bend tags that sound like they could have come from Dawn of Possession.  Not that that is in any way a bad thing.  This is the longest track on the album at nearly thirteen minutes.  Malthusian do a wonderful job throughout this song of continuing to maintain and build intensity. “Telluric Tongues (Roaring into the Earth) opens up with the same intensity as the album begins with.  This might be a bit to unsettling for some but for me this is as abrasive as I was hoping for from these guys.  If you are looking for fast, atmospheric black death metal.  Here you go.  Enjoy.

According to their bio Burial Invocation are heavily influenced by Finnish death metal which is not surprising in any bit. Opening up with the massive opening track “Revival” which is almost ten minutes long. The track opens with some black metallish rhythmic guitar progressions with double kick drum accompaniment into some blast sections.  This all transitions into some circle pit inducing slam death for a few measures and then a tapping lead is played over the top.  There is a lot going on with Burial Invocation’s song arrangements.   There is an awesome beat down slam section at about three and half minutes into the song that is super catchy. Mustafa Yildiz’s vocals remind of Scott Reigel from Brutality.

For the most part all of the tracks on Abiogenesis are at least ten minutes with the exception of the last track, “Tenebrous Horizons” which kicks in at around a little over two and half minutes.  The title track Abiogenesis is probably my favorite on the record and starts off tough right out of the gate. Cihan Akun riffing and lead work is stellar throughout this track the whole album.  I quite enjoy the old school approach to the lead work throughout. The harmonies and overall production are top notch and crystal clear. “Visions of Hereafter” is another memorably catchy tune that reminds me of Human era Death a bit.  Just a tinge.  About two minutes in is one of the catchiest riffs on the record. “Phantasmagoric Transcendence” is probably the grossest track on the album with some gnarly, slow octave and minor third harmony sections that go into an old school death thrash part that reminds me a bit of old Into Eternity era Desultory.

Finishing up with “Tenebrous Horizons” which has a really nicely played acoustic intro which is a nice way to break up the previous four ten minute massively huge slab of old school death metal. Then they decide to add cellos on top of the acoustic guitar parts. Really interesting way to end the record.   This is a really ambitious debut and between this and Skeletal Remains I would say 2018 has been a huge win for Dark Descent Records and I do not think they are done yet.  I look forward to what these Turkish sickos come up with in the near future.  Highly recommended.

If you have not checked out the video for “Seismic Abyss” it’s an excellent display of what these guys are all about.   With tracks like this one you can clearly hear how they break up the influences of groups like Death and Pestilence.  I cannot say enough of the production on this one.  I had to go back and listen to some earlier Skeletal Remains to get the context on how their sound has evolved. This isn’t the most technical band but the parts that they add that are technical are well thought out and executed. The James Murphy-esque harmony section towards the end of this tune leading to an ending solo is so spot on heavy that I got a sore neck from head banging to it the first few times going through this album for review.

“Catastrophic Retribution” opens up with a very intricate fretboard run riff that can probably induce a circle pit upon first listen.  The title track, “Devouring Mortality’ opens up with one of the cooler intro parts on the album. Got love the drum fill into a lower end riff.  I can also hear some old Morgoth and Considered Dead Gorguts in Monroy’s voice.   The track has one of the more up tempo blast beat sections on the record and then goes back into crushing mid paced riffing and drumming. “Torture Labyrinth” is also quite heavy and opens up with a cool harmony part into solo and then a double up harmony lead with a strong tremolo dive into some crushing down picked rhythms.  “Grotesque Creation” opens up with some thrashy power chord progressions into a windmill inducing, finger flying shred display.  This is all builds into an incredibly catchy beat down section and then right back into thrash triplet patterns with aggressive blasting over the top.

“Lifeless Manifestation” is a cool instrumental track later on the record that has a dirty Morbid Angel vibe to it. The album closes with “Internal Detestation” which ends with the same type of intensity as the majority of this album. Devouring Mortality is a unique death metal album. Skeletal Remains have managed to create a modern old school sound without losing any intensity. From the artwork to the production to each track by track assault this record should do well for Dark Descent Records and U.S Death metal. This is a catchy keeper that will keep you head banging start to finish.