Living in a body can be a strange experience. Essentially, we’re locked inside shells as our minds and essences develop, and it can be a struggle to be OK with these meats suits and what they look like. Living in our society doesn’t make this any easier as pressure is applied hard on how we’re expected to look. Social media turned that into a world-engulfing blaze.
Venomous Echoes is a black/death metal force helped by sole creator Ben Vanweelden, and over the course of this project, he has examined issues of body dysmorphia and horrors. On his third album “Dysmor,” there is sweeping, dramatic chaos dripped over these six tracks and 46 minutes, and the mental pressures and devastation are layered thick, which makes sense. I also suffer from body dysmorphia, and the connections I was able to make psychologically and even physically is brutal yet kind of healing. This record continues the plot of its two predecessors, and this time the protagonist is exposed to horrific images and visons, things that must be overcome to reach the world of Malcloid.
“Wall of Memories and Despair” dawns in a cacophony of sounds and sax slashing, doomy fury trudging through mean, monstrous territory that bends your nerves. Raw fury mixes with jazzy guitar lines, howls crumbing as a cosmic edge slices through, shrieks maiming and leaving mental damage. The title track crushes right off the bat, guitars bending and spiraling, smearing into woozy terrain where you feel like you’re losing touch. Guitars lather as eeriness blends into a time warp, death snarls, and increasing weirdness ends in echo. “Groped by Spectres” has guitars dashing and wrapping around corners, leads damaging minds, savagery crashing into mechanical hell and tortured wails. Tricky leads turn the screws, with the shrieks sickening as sounds hover and escape.
“Broken” has keys falling, strange melodies icing wounds, and then suddenly you’re buried in molten thickness. The playing stomps, a total maniacal fury that has no mercy, howls pouring devastation in generous quantities, piano fluttering, darkness dancing over volcanic ash. “Defeated and Withered Creation” has the guitars catching on fire instantly, punishing with speed and mangled steel, your brain tingling from the wild blast of zany death. Howls hiss as the room feels like it’s spinning dangerously, mashing as sounds zap, chugging through synth heat. Closer “The Begetter” runs 12:06, sax sliding in, a chilling front floating and making you shiver, the brutality finally served in hulking manner. The guitars cut as the howls slice into bone, the pace chugging as sooty, viscous streams flow, sickened screams leading way to inconsolable sobbing. Guitars blare anew as the tempo charges, a synth fog envelopes, keys dripping into oblivion.
Pain and trauma, especially as it relates to our bodies, can drive one to the edges of sanity, and Venomous Echoes punch into those uncomfortable areas. “Dysmor” delves into those dark corners where you try to process what you’re feeling, and sometimes that’s enough to slip further underneath. For Vanweelden, it’s looking into the Malcloid to fight to a better means of existence that doesn’t constantly gnaw at your brain.
For more on the band, go here: https://venomousechoes.bandcamp.com/
To buy the album U.S.), go here: https://metalodyssey.8merch.us/
Or here (Europe): https://metalodyssey.8merch.com/
For more on the label, go here: https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/
Meat Mead Metal 