Nightmarish visons no longer have to be relegated to sleep as our imaginations, if we allow them to take the leap, can get us places reality cannot. Getting lost in art and music is a great pathway to such an experience, and if you find something that can get your brain hung up on the horrific and perverse, then you don’t have to leave this planet to have such a harrowing journey.

I say that because I could not get utter terror and fear out of my mind when tackling “Adorned in Ruin,” the second record from Aussie death metal beasts Golgothan Remains. This record comes on like a beast, takes you over mind and body, and leaves you wondering what the fuck it is youactually just experienced. These nine songs are not easy to digest, even if you have a wealth of death metal experience, because this is warped in an entirely different monster. The band—vocalist Matthieu Van den Brande (his work is particularly warped), guitarist Matt Hillman, bassist Adam Martin, drummer Aled Powell—get to work early by cinching in their claws and making your reality come crashing to the ground, with you having no handle on how to get this madness straightened.

“Veneration of Carnal Blasphemy” dawns with dark guitars and strange growls corroding, the playing dissolving bone. Wild howls tear into the scene, the tempo destroys, and the pace races to the end. “A Shrouded Longing for Promethean Fire” have riffs tangling and death growls carving, scraping off the top layer of flesh. Speed and precision combine, the guitars mystify, and the vicious tear continues until dissolving in its own juices. “Wandering Through Chambers of Deathlike Void” opens in a blinding terror as animalistic carnage begins to lurk. Fiery leads and wild yells turn back, hypnotic riffs surge, and the final gasp is thorny and brutal. “Opulent Incarnation of Persevering Torment” brings stinging guitars and vocals that torch the flesh, then the drums belch a burst of speed. Guitars blur and kill as the pace blackens eyes, and the remnants are sucked into the void.

“The Malign Hordes of Aborrence” arrives amid mystifying guitars and then rumbling speed, the vocals sounding pained and hoarse. The pace slows to a dizzying haze, the drums unload, and the guitars eat at the senses, leaving you a bloody mess. “Forgotten Lores of Hatred and Bloodshed” brings cool riffs and a relentless assault, the playing teasing your psyche. Growls retch as the guitars heat up, strangeness is permitted to spread unabated, and the final moments are mashed into the earth. “…Of Morbid Blood and Serpent Skins” is packed with insane riffs and shrieks that can peel flesh, churning into tornadic terror. The drums hammer as the attack gets more involved, and the viciousness rambles downhill and into “Void II: Towards the Joyless Elysium.” Ambient hiss pushes as guitars leak, and a detached voice bleeds into your bloodstream, paving the way toward closer “On Lifeless Wings of Malice” that is trudging and weird as it starts. Clean yells bleed into torment, scratchy growls have their way with you, and the playing stirs, causing the room to spin uncontrollably, the end coming swiftly.

“Adorned in Ruin” is a record that eats into your brain and resets what you know about death metal, leaving you mangled and flattened. Golgothan Remains are another collection of beasts who are twisting and gnawing death metal into their own vision, everyone else’s expectations be damned. This is a penetrating experience that can leave a new wave of horror dashed across your mental well-being.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/GolgothanRemains/

To buy the album, go here: http://sentientruin.com/releases/golgothan-remains-adorned-in-ruin

Or here: https://brilliantemperor.bigcartel.com/

For more on the label, go here: http://sentientruin.com/

And here: https://www.facebook.com/BrilliantEmperorRecords