I went outside today, and the heat and humidity were just uncompromising. Walking any length made the lightheadedness strike hard, as I was trying to find a place to catch balance. Nothing felt good about it, and considering we’d just come out of the nicest temperatures all summer, this was almost an insult. The earth is beginning to lay waste to us for our sins.

Brazilian death metal crushers Fossilization discovered a way to make that oppressive temperature come through in their music. The band’s debut record “Leprous Daylight” is a filthy, sludging, and violent, an eight-track pounder that this band—vocalist/guitarist/bassist V, drummer P—builds off the strength of their debut EP “He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten” and split with Ritual Necromancy to make things more viscous, more unforgiving, and more intense. These 37 minutes might feel like they blast back in no time, but once the music is done, you’ll realize you’re paying a dear price that won’t resolve easily.

“Archæan Gateway” is a doomy, sweltering intro track that trudges its way into “Once Was God” that is ominous and dark as it arrives. Murky, burly hell unloads, the guitars catching fire even amid all the soot. Massive heat exhales, the fuzzy guitars engorge, and things manage to get even more sinister before bowing out to the finish. “Oracle of Reversion” is thick as hell as the growls land like blades, the guitars scorching as a death metal assault gets fully under way. Growls curdle as the tempo digs in its heels a little, grinding you down with power instead of speed. The exhaust coming off the guitars weighs down on you, the snarls twist your muscles, and the mashing pace ends in suffocation. “At the Heart of the Nest” brings spiraling guitars and rumbling growls, the heat penetrating as the smoking pace turns molten. The growls manage to get even dirtier, the pace bleeding over, trucking over plasma, bone, and nails before fading into the soil.

The title track ignites with vile howls, a heavy haze hanging over everything, jolting with ugly and immoral intent. Melodies tidal wave and unite with the infernal assault that chokes out all oxygen, the track burning to its finish. “The Night Spoke the Tongue of Flames” splatters as the chaos builds, the slow-driving madness leaning into steamy, stewy chaos. The guitars explode all over, blistering with lurching growls and blasting wills. “Eon” slowly catches fire and hangs overhead like a poisonous cloud. The deathly assault staggers and keeps landing bigger blows, and the guitars start a hypnotic push that brings thing to a boil. The drums kick hard, and the elements totally fucking destroy until everything is dust. Closer “Wrought in the Abyss” is nasty and scarring, the humidity spreading, warping and piling on the ugliness. The pressure mounts and the leads scorch and spread, savaging with a calculated pace and a sinister intent that goes out in smoke.

Fossilization certainly create doomy death metal that feels like being stuck inside a loaf of hot bread, just gasping steam while you strive for some sort of vision. “Leprous Daylight” is a mangling, disgusting slab of death that makes it impossible to feel comfortable and always make it feel like you’re face first in the mud. This is a pulverizing debut, one that promises only broken bones and blood to its victims.  

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

To buy the album, go here: https://everlastingspew.com/21-everlasting-spew-releases

For more on the label, go here: https://everlastingspew.com/