We’ve been trashing 2020 for the absolute shit that it’s been pretty much wall to wall (and it! Isn’t! Over! Yet!), but let’s be honest: It hasn’t been all bad. I just found out they’re building a Popeye’s like a block away, Schitt’s Creek won all the Emmy awards, and death metal still is really good, with so many bands contributing vital, bloody documents.
Toss another one on the pile as Finnish beasts Gorephilia have returned with their deadly third record “In the Eye of Nothing,” an album that’ll make any honest fan of the sub-genre downright giddy with bloodlust. Over seven tracks and about 43 minutes, the band digs deep into the morbid stuff and pulls out a record that is vile, brutal, weird, and just a blast to take on from front to back. The band—guitarist/vocalist Jukka Aho (he takes the helm from former singer Nemesis, who passed in 2018), guitarist Pauli Gurko, bassist Tami Luukkonen, drummer Kauko Kuusisalo—definitely do their homeland’s rich death metal history proud with this album, and each meaty chunk they tear off and throw at you lands with weight and precision, leaving nothing but bruises and a hammered psyche.
“Walls of Weeping Eyes” opens the record by tearing through guts and hammering away with great power, while the riffs smear plasma. A mucky chorus adds more crunch before the playing hits a downward spiral, melody bursts from the seams, and the track ends in slow-driving menace. “Perpetual Procession” has riffs churning right away before the playing shifts, and the growls gurgle with disgusting energy. The track turns thrashy and deadly with a guttural chorus that mashes digits before a searing solo. The playing continues to clobber as the growls crush while the song burns to ash. “Ouroboran Labyrinth” begins with a classic-style death riff as the tempo trucks, and the growls are worked into layers. The guitars splinter off before the gas pedal is jammed through the floor, while the guitars light up and blind, and jolting blasts end the track with bruised ribs. “Devotion Upon the Worm” punches its way in as the music slowly wrenches, the growls crawl in filth, and the atmosphere begins to boil off. There’s a ghoulish feel to the ambiance as it chews into your psyche, strange clouds hover, and mournful guitars flood and let darkness cover the land.
“Consensus” is a quick interlude that has guitars that stymie, bass protruding, and strangeness swimming toward “Simplicity of Decay” that tears through flesh and muscle and brings primal devastation. The riffs cause dizziness while the drums decimate, and then the bass liquifies rock before some eerie slide guitar brings chills to your system. The track begins to chug anew as the soloing floods over, and the track ends on a note of sudden morbid mysticism. “Not for the Weak” makes your head spin with tricky riffs and the leads immersed in madness, feeling bizarre but also violent. The soloing sprawls as it tunnels its way into the earth, overwhelming and making you question reality as it rips its way into “Death Dream,” a final interlude piece. The playing numbs your brain wrinkles as warm leads change the temperature zone, making its way to final cut “Ark of the Undecipherable” where guitars meet you with venomous stings. The band outright mauls as the guitars melt faces, and the playing stomps bodies, entering murky streams as the growls flatten your midsection. The playing erupts with dangerous energy as soloing sweeps through, the pace trudges, and the ending is buried in mud.
Gorephilia’s brand of death metal is fierce and creative, making you feel like you accidentally took something mind altering, and you’re trying to figure out how to hang on. “In the Eye of Nothing” has an awesome Finnish edge that’s pretty apparent once you first take it on, and it digs right into the filth and madness and makes you feel rightfully disoriented. This is ideally served death metal hitting at the right time when horror is in the air, and blood is ripe to be shed.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/gorephilia/
To buy the album, go here: http://www.darkdescentrecords.com/store/
Or here: https://www.mesacounojo.com/shop/gorephilia-in-the-eye-of-nothing-lp/
For more on the label, go here: https://www.darkdescentrecords.com/
And here: https://www.mesacounojo.com/
Meat Mead Metal 