“With heavyweights like Tomb Mold and Blood Incantation drowning in the love of the underground, proggy OSDM has never been so widely celebrated or practiced. If you’re a player in the death metal underground, that makes it an ideal time to switch focus from your nasty death metal band to your proggy death metal band and release your inscrutably titled debut album.” Void where prohibited.
“Their debut in 2018 was received poorly by the respective probationary writer, noting that it suffered from “conflating incomprehensible fury and aimless blasting with gripping riffs and relentless aggression.” While it was slightly underrated, and this at least demonstrates that not all of the probationary writers were overrating bastards (though all the ones who made the cut are), it was far from essential and hardly suggested that there were great things to come. Enter 2020 and Providence.” New year, new gear.
“The few times I’ve run reconnaissance to the front lines of war metal—sometimes called bestial black metal—it hasn’t exactly inspired me to take up arms. On paper, the bastard child of grindcore and raw black metal sounds like fun, but the unrelenting frenetic assault often turns tedious for this reviewer. I don’t mind dense music, but I like it smart, and that’s not really war metal’s MO. “Then why are you reviewing a war metal album?” the insolent reader may ask. I’ll tell you, though you deserve no such courtesy.” Towers of noise.
“Back in 2015 I was taken off guard and enchanted by the superb sophomore album from Obsequiae, entitled Aria of Vernal Tombs, which marked a strong improvement over their impressive debut. Despite operating a bit outside my regular wheelhouse, the album’s raw blend of folky and medieval melodic black metal struck a chord that left me gobsmacked, gushing over the album’s elegant melodies, accomplished song-writing and earthy tones. Well finally the band have awoken from their slumber, returning to the ye olden days with another taut yet epic collection of melodic black metal tunes on their long awaited third album, The Palms of Sorrowed Kings.” Royal tidings.
“Hole Below used some atmospheric elements and varied tempos to craft a terrifying experience that never once let up, and while Vastum 2019 incorporates bits and pieces of those elements, Orificial Purge settles mostly into mid-paced death metal territory. Combine the lumbering sections of Incantation mixed with Bolt Thrower heft, and you can imagine what 90% of this record sounds like.” Another day at the orifice.
“Synergy is such an interesting concept. Take two things, add them together, and occasionally the resulting whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. This effect is rendered even more powerful when the constituent ingredients are seemingly at odds. In the same way that peanut butter slathered all over a bacon cheeseburger elevates it to another level of awesomeness, the curious mixture of hardcore/crust journeyman Todd Burdette (Tragedy, His Hero is Gone, Warcry, and many more) with jack of all metals Tim Call (Aldebaran, Mournful Congregation, The Howling Wind, and many more) has produced Portland, Oregon’s dark metal monstrosity, Nightfell.” Frankenstein lives!
“The other day, I was sitting at the kid’s n00b’s lunch table and about to close a deal trading away my Twinkie for Carcharodon‘s bland, British pastry, when Mark Z. walked in like the cool big kid he is and slammed a promo on the counter. ‘Hey, n00bs. Here’s Witch Vomit if you want it. I’m doing something else.’ He promptly picked up another promo with ‘vomit’ in the name and walked away. I tried to act cool, seeing if anyone else was as excited as I was, but when the bell rang, all of my fellow n00bs got up and headed towards Dr. Grier‘s 5th-period class, ‘How to Avoid Dismemberment.'” Harridans ov hurl.
“I miss the days when death metal still seethed with awful possibility. Before the genre put an emphasis on brutal brevity and cold proficiency, it plumbed extremity’s depths in search of vile new frontiers. Seattle’s Cerebral Rot drip with old school ichor. Their gait is jagged yet inexorable and their minds putrid and profane. Debut album Odious Descent Into Decay is a stillborn malignancy, dead to the world and possessed of a horror even the primordial night wishes it whispered.” Keep on rotting in a dead world.
“Simply saying these Swedes sound insane would be completely underselling the bands bestial brand of barbaric blackened brutality. Döda Själar is death metal of the blackest, filthiest variety, the kind you turn to when Incantation or Convulsing just can’t quite hit that horrid spot.” Overkilled.
“Little over a year later, Tomb Mold have returned with a third death metal opus, and things have changed. Planetary Clairvoyance is drastically evolved. Now in our midst is a star-spawned abomination, multi-formed and voracious. If the preceding records were a baring of teeth, then this collection is surely the war-turn for this dread conqueror worm.” Olde mold is bold.
