Yesterday, we talked about death metal that takes the well-traveled path and sticks to what has made the subgenre such a force for the past three decades. Today, we go in an entirely different direction and talk about how the sound can be warped and stretched to fit a bizarre, ambitious vision, and how that makes this art form so fluid and exciting.
English oddities Slimelord have no real use for convention, and while what they do is decidedly death metal, it’s envisioned and translated in such a way that keeps your head cocked at an angle. And that’s certainly by choice. On debut album “Chytridiomycosis Relinquished,” the band— vocalist Andrew Ashworth, guitarist/vocalist Alexander Bradley, guitarist Krystian Zamojski, bassist John Riley, drummer Ryan Sheperson—takes on fantastical elements, history, and other levels of reality and smooshes it into a death metal formula that’s anything but by the books and stands out as weird, exciting, and choked with blood and bile.
“The Beckoning Bell” starts with the guitars gassing up, growls hissing, and the bass trampling, setting up the perfect storm. The leads lather and take off as the playing sinks deep into sludge, battering as the growls hiss and the heat increases before everything sweeps off into space. “Gut-Brain Axis” enters amid thick humidity, and then the guitars explode, trippy heat making breathing more difficult, your head swimming deep in the murk. Growls crumble as the psychedelic pressure squeezes temples, echoes bouncing off the walls, haunting sounds coming back and reverberating. Chunky mashing strikes, howls lurch, and the final waves are blistering and ugly. “Splayed Mudscape” boils as the pace slurs, beastly punishment coming for your head, the dizzying pace making the room spin. The playing picks up and bubbles anew, adding intense disorientation as the leads ache, exiting into a glowing haze.
“Batrachomorpha Resurrections Chamber” slowly dawns as moody melodies spread, and the growls slither while the guitars slide into a haze. The tempo pulls and warps, the guitars catch fire, and a thickening fog settles over, dissolving into acid. “The Hissing Moor” is disarming and foreboding, horns calling out, the guitars digging in and intensifying a zany pace. Howls crush as the battering sparks frenetic jolts, melting into savage weirdness, slipping into a swarm of sound. “Tidal Slaughtermarsh” is a total assault, the growls wrenching as the playing makes it feel like you’re losing mental control. The energy soaks in madness, playing games with your mind, the leads blasting and loosening bones. The smoke tramples as the chugging pulls you under, jetting off into the night. Instrumental closer “Heroic Demise” is steamy and doomy, the heat penetrating as the bass encircles you like prey. The guitars char and glimmer, punching as the drums blast, the playing blisters, and everything fades deep into the universe.
“Chytridiomycosis Relinquished” is a bizarre dose of death metal that twists your brain wiring and leaves you bodily and mentally devastated. Slimelord is the latest in a crop of bands pushing death metal into stranger corners, making this sub-genre more exciting and unpredictable. This dark, doomy, deranged debut is a blast to experience and is something exciting to revisit regularly as it offers something a little different each time.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/horriblebog/
To buy the album, go here: https://www.20buckspin.com/collections/slimelord
For more on the label, go here: https://www.20buckspin.com/
Meat Mead Metal 