![Malokarpatan – Vertumnus Caesar [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Malokarpatan-Vertumnus-Caesar-01-768x768.jpeg)
‘I don’t know about the rest of you, but work has been a fucking bear this year. Since starting tenish years ago, 2023 might be my lowest contribution to the site. It also caused me to miss a lot of great records I was looking forward to. Thank the sweet metal lord that we have TYMHM. And this one is special.”
“I have been in a weird space with death metal in 2022. While quality releases have trickled in at a reasonable rate, not much has really blown me away and shaken me to the core. In fact, I’ve spent ample periods revisiting the past, leaning on old favorites, while the latest dominating platter from reliable legends Immolation has remained in solid rotation. Yet as the last chunk of 2022 dawns upon us, optimism is high due to the often-fruitful later-year riches. Belgium’s Bones intend on bludgeoning their way into focus on their debut full-length, Sombre Opulence.” Lovely bones?
“There’s something primal lurking beneath Nahanagan Stadial as its immense title track kicks in. Dublin’s Coscradh is blackened death and war metal at its core, crawling riffs, reverb-laden vocals adding to relentless bottom-end riffage and guitar-abusing speed, with a heaping helping of doom to top things off.” War, death, and no peace.
“There’s a very particular set of sounds one expects to hear when spinning an album by a band called Grave Infestation. You certainly don’t go in looking for polish or subtle compositional finesse. With all that fully known, I was still surprised by just how raw, nasty, and grisly the music was that hit me upon diving into Persecution of the Living. As the band’s debut offering, it’s quite the ferocious death statement, stitching together the rotting carcasses of Autopsy, Obituary, Consuming Impulse-era Pestilence, and Hellhammer. Upon this wretched rock they build their evil church, layering eerie atmospheres and coating it all in noxious, scabby murk, and the result is sub-basement tier old school death loathsome enough to curdle fresh moonshine.” Grave yourself.
“The second I saw Deathcult’s Of Soil Unearthed in the promo sump, I knew I had to have it. Not because I’d heard their first album, 2010’s Beast of Faith, but because that name is death metal distilled; the kind of brutish, on-the-nose moniker that conjures pleasant thoughts of Guyana in 1978. The kind of name which whispers sweet nothings to the reptilian part of my brain that produces monosyllabic grunts whenever I hear a guttural vocal, a crunchy riff, or a vile lyric or two.” Well trod earth, unearthed.
“Transilvania is a black/thrash metal quartet from Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria, having released a full-length, a split, and an EP since its 2014 or 2010 inception. The project was officially founded in 2010 as Epidermis, changing its name to Old Skull and then to Transilvania in 2014.” Bad fangover.
“Head of the Demon, were unknown to me when I picked up what is their third full-length outing. Thus far in their career, the occult-themed doomsters have kept a healthy four years between releases, dropping their self-titled debut in 2012 and its follow up, Sathanas Trismegistos, in 2016. Can 2020’s Deadly Black Doom deliver on its oh so tantalizing title?” Demon doom.
“No matter who you are or where you live, everyone is being asked to stay home from a job that they may not get to come back to. Or… living it up with their family in a mansion whose walls sport the fashionable 2020 Vintage Toilet Tissue Wallpaper. Then there’re others of us that push on like nothing is happening. Regardless of your dilemma, this shit has come out of nowhere and I-just-went-in-for-eggs-and-left-after-four-hours-because-only-ten-people-were-allowed-into-the-store-at-one-time is a thing. Everyone’s upset and no one knows what’s gonna happen next. Funny enough, that’s the perfect attitude to have for Malokarpatan’s newest masterpiece, Krupinské ohne.”
“When I can’t write I fix bikes. I’ll drag some junker back from the salvage store and a month later somebody else is riding it to work. Sure, there are material benefits to this hobby; I make some beer money, I have some parts lying around for when my own commuters break down. But Craigslist ads and old man Metal Guy aren’t footing my rent bill. I do these things so that I can create something. I can see something through from start to finish, where I decide and care for and understand of every part of the final product.” Death is the finisher.
“I return to my chambers, cackling madly. I’ve just dropped a heap of Witch Vomit on a bunch of unsuspecting n00bs in favor of something even fouler: Slutvomit, a Seattle quartet who play a raw and devilish union of thrash, black, and death metal. Madam X took on the band’s 2013 debut Swarming Darkness and found it a reasonably enjoyable release with similarities to early Sodom. But now, second album Copulation of Cloven Hooves is upon us, an album that I feel especially qualified to review given it was made by a band with ‘vomit’ in the name.” I don’t want to know what that says about you.
