Heteropsy is the side project of Japan’s Frostvore, who released one of the better Swedish/HM2 death metal homages in 2020s, Drowned In Blood. They have released 4 EPs and a split since 2020, but Embalming is their debut album. and is my first exposure to them.

But whereas Frostvore is firmly rooted in the classic Dismember/ Emtombed sound of yore, Heteropsy, while still having a fucking disgusting HM2 buzz, is much more of a lumbering, crawling doom death act, as if classic Hooded Menace or country mates Coffins had much more of a Swedish death metal backbone.

And while there are a few Swe-death gallops and blasts here and there (i.e., parts of  “Pandemonium Alter”, “The Sodomizer”), the focus is on huge, filthy lopes and huge filthy vocals. Just listen to the opening lopes of “Pandemonium Alter” and “Asphyxia”, or the somber strains of doom that start “Memento Mori” and “Methodone”.

10 minute closer “Old Friends”, is an absolute monster of a track with a little of everything in the doom/death realm to satisfy fans of the genre as well as a more sickly form of Swedish death metal.