“Sunlight can cleanse or heal, but it also burns. The scouring properties of light sear their way into the foreground on Benighted Desecration, the debut full-length from death-doom entity Cadaver Shrine. Just look at the corpse on the album cover, face pointed upward toward the source of its demise. A halo of oppressive brightness envelops the nasty music on this latest of many side projects from Maurice de Jong of Gnaw Their Tongues infamy.” Cult of the Sun.
“As November slips into Mariah Carey’s proprietary month of December, the overall quality of the promos oozing into the AMG storage sump drops precipitously. Only the desperate or foolhardy aim to drop albums in December and much of what is released should never have seen the light of day. That makes any sort of seasonal gambling with unknown acts especially treacherous. Because I’m an ape who likes to live dangerously, I took a high-risk flyer and grabbed the debut album by Salt Lake City’s Sacrilegion.” Sacrilicious.
“You there! That’s right, you. Stop dwelling on Cthulhu or Satan or the uncaring expanse of deep space for a minute; it’s time for a thought exercise. Think of the worst thing you’ve ever done. No, really–the thing you don’t tell anyone about, the one that makes you stop whatever you’re doing and wince whenever it jumps unbidden into your mind. Got it? Well, guess what: Vacuous Depths know your secret, and they are here to beat you down for what you did. Here are ten tracks of primal, punishing death metal that are very much aware we all have it coming.” Punishment due.
“Look, let’s cut to the chase here, Monuments of Grief is, unsurprisingly, bleak as all fuck. With an album title like that, released under the nom de guerre The Sombre and as the followup to Shapeless Misery, there is no levity, no joy and no whimsy to be found here. Monuments of Grief is just that, a towering obelisk of doom that drags the listener down into a hopeless pit of despair, from whence one can look up at the light but with absolutely no hope of reaching it.” Sweet grief.
“South America has an enviable metal pedigree. Like the early 90s Floridian filth we know and love, or the Gothenburg school that scratches that brutal yet melodic itch, the South American scene has delivered its own unique set of sounds, approaches and atmospheres to the heavy metal maelstrom. Perhaps that was why I was so eager to pick up Fragments at the Edge of Sorrow, the sophomore release from Mortify, a Chilean group who specialize in a murky, bass-forward death doom concoction verging on the technical.” Life on the edge.
“Thorn, a one-man act from Arizona, used to dwell in the chunky sloth of death/doom with debut Crawling Worship, focusing heartily on concrete-thick slogs and hell-scraping gutturals. Amping the tempo while letting old habits die hard, sophomore effort Yawning Depths offers a beatdown not unlike sole member Brennen Westermeyer’s other brutal deathgrind project Fluids. Borrowing influences from post-metal and doom, it’s a shape-shifting experience that is as relentless as it is meditative.” Sleepy bulldozers.
“Coming off the back of a run of awarding three 4.0s in a row, a run that will likely see me fired—or at least badly mauled—by a certain helmet-wearing Ape, can the last-minute pickup of a post-death doom album, sporting Kenny G saxophone antics, save my fledgling career as a music journalist? Swedish quintet Gold Spire comprises former members of the now-defunct prog-death outfit Usurpress, as well as past and present members of Sarcasm, Obskyr and, crucially, Third Storm, the very first band I reviewed for this here site, meaning there would be a certain pleasing irony if Gold Spire’s debut prevents my firing.” Blood, treasure, and sax.
“A foot firmly stuck in thick, rancid muck. A foot that can only be wrenched free with herculean effort. An effort inevitably resulting in a loss of balance and a fall into aforementioned muck, hopelessly entrapping oneself. Death finds all men, and this increasingly dire scenario is akin to experiencing the filthy cavern-core offered by Decrepisy on their Emetic Communion debut. A group featuring members of Vastum, Funebrarum, and Ascended Dead, Decepisy is heavily steeped in the ways of vile, ghastly death and they inhabit the same sewer pipes as grimy greats like Incantation.” Taste the outflow.
“We all know December is the Great Dumpster Fire of Destiny for promos, and one does not simply sort through it without being stunned by the world-class dreck the labels unleash upon us poor, defenseless reviewers like so much coal in our stockings. Even in dead-end December though, you can sometimes trip over an industrial grade gem – the kind that will never shine like a pricey diamond, but may just win your affection anyway with its durable, utilitarian badassery. The Great Void of Mystery by Heavens Decay is one such stone of note.” December dumpster diving is risky business.
“Personally speaking, it’s been a tough few months at Castle Beuller. But, man is not made for defeat and when looking for a little slice of escapism, I often find myself turning to the loving embrace of some old-school death metal. It’s not progressive — it’s downright sticks and stones. But, if it can deliver the tone and supply the riffs, then sometimes I find myself transported back to those days when first discovering this music.” Drowning in the muck of olde.
