Have you ever heard a record that, silly as it sounds, seemed to have only the worst of intentions for you in mind? How could it? It’s music, and it can’t think for itself. But the people making it surely could, and hearing that type of assault always makes me feel like I need to have my guard up just in case.
The arrival of “Filth Ouroboros,” the second record from Cheyenne, Wo., death metal crushers Casket Huffer, makes me feel insecure each time I visit it. The band uses a war metal-style onslaught as its base, and obviously there’s a great deal of relentless hell when it comes to that approach, but these guys seem to push even that over the top on these eight tracks spread over an economical 40 minutes. This is the follow-up to their 2016 debut “Gospels of Scum,” and it’s an even more ferocious assault as they seem to dump fire on the fuel over all of these songs. The band—Than Wilson (guitar, bass, vocals), Eric Worthington (guitar, bass), Dylan Newbury (drums)—levels you with power and violent tenacity, making the music really seem like it is hoping for the worst for you, and it’s already got you in its grasp.
“Altars of Despondency” starts the record with a savage burst that essentially sets the tone for the record. Melody surges behind the hellish assault laid out before you, as the music works to liquify everything and turn it into lava. The track just keeps mauling from there, with riffs stabbing and suffocation imminent. “Oblivion Serpents” has smothering riffs dicing, growls killing, and a stretch that fries in a noise bath. While your skull is being beaten in, a solo squeezes out, and everything comes to a furious end. “The Antichrist Vessel” is mean and driving, as guitars stampede, and the drums unleash slaughter. The track feels like it’s storming hell, ripping apart faces, with the leads fanning the flames. “Genocide Thralls” grinds hard but also rubs your face in sludge as the band thrashes away and turns you into a blinding assault. The final minute of the track is a dizzying burst that spits shrapnel right at your unprotected throat.
The title track follows and delivers chunky guitar work that spread like a trail of lighter fluid toward an open flame. The guitars later speed and warp while the growls bury you in humiliation, and everything comes to an impossibly destructive end. “Caustic Winds” is complete chaos when it arrives, smashing you with steely riffs, maniacal growls, and drumming that sounds like it’s trying to tear through the earth. The growls churn and bury the senses, while the dizzying pace leaves no place for peace. “Aghast” is mercilessly heavy as the band war stomps all over its unsuspecting victims, while the growls sound like they’re trying to draw up bile. The song continues its murderous strength, hitting thrashy pockets and ending up in massive bursts of chaos. “Harrowing Mysticism” is the closer, and it erupts into a rampage right from the start, doing as much damage as possible. The growls light up and chew through muscle, while a tortuous attack is waged before things thicken up and trudge in a calculated pace. But before you can get comfortable, the playing is sucked into a death spiral, the guitars rumble, and the track ends in a painful pierce of sound.
Casket Huffer’s music is not for the weak-minded or for anyone who can’t handle an outright barrage of decibels and death that can split your face down the middle. “Filth Ouroboros” is a ridiculously heavy and punishing display that sets your life on fire and sits back to laugh. This is pure devastation that will not leave you feeling good mentally or physically once it’s over, and that’s pretty much what the band seems to have in mind.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/CasketHuffer/
To buy the album, go here: https://hibernationrelease.bigcartel.com/
For more on the label, go here: https://www.facebook.com/hibernationrelease/
Meat Mead Metal 