This week of nasty, horrific displays just rambles on as we now have the idea of bodies piled to the sky, the stench choking out everything under the sun. Not that we ever expected death metal to let us down easily, but when it piles on with unthinkable horrors and hellish intentions, it just feels deadlier.
Canadian beasts Prophetic Suffering deliver terrifying doses of the filthiest and most depraved death possible on “Rivalry of Thyself,” their first full-length creation. It’s dastardly, mangling, and blood infested, death metal that’s intertwined with black metal that drips with disgusting power and force, trying to turn your stomach. Over eight tracks and 25 minutes, it takes no time for the band—vocalist/guitarist D.H., guitarist T.G., bassist C.E., drummer M.M.—to bring devastation that sounds like it’s hinting toward a smothering end times. Their stew of extreme metal’s most dangerous forms make this feel like an even more harrowing experience, threatening to pile you on that corpse tower.
“Holy Death, Sacred Rot” opens already fully warped, taking its time to set up its miasmal surroundings and then digging in the knife. This is terrorizing and bludgeoning, a description that applies to every second of this thing, and hulking terror squeezes out of every corner, goring and scorching before a bizarre finish. “Foul” is a quick one filled with utter destruction and ferocious growls strangling, momentum building to a crazed, belching end. “Refuge in Libations” attacks as howls snarl, and a gutting pace easily has its way with you. Growls sicken as the playing spirals, heading up a total death assault that grinds the earth and ends in pastoral chants. “Empire of Filth” is channeled with riffs stomping, sinewy playing stretching muscle, and inhuman wails cutting off your capacity to deal mentally. The madness drives to a halt, but that’s temporary as the reignition quakes the ground, rattling loose screws in your skulls that smash against your struggling brain.
“Easy Prey (Weakness Defined)” erupts with growls corroding and a fury that is overwhelming to say the least. Burly howls do ample damage as a storm of chaos dusts up and suffocates, bells chiming and giving off the stench of Armageddon. “Gift of Decay” is a total onslaught with gross vocals, a demonic terror, and a ripping conclusion that unloads your guts before you know what hit you. The title cut blasts through like a tornado already filled to the top with shrapnel and who knows what else? The pace spatters and consumes, blazing with fully engulfed guitars and a final gust that loosens ribs. Closer “Oppressor Beheaded” is a blinding attack with engorged growls, fires rampaging, and the guitar work charring easily. The playing can be disorienting, bruising and landing blows from every angle, melting into static before taking its rightful place in hell.
Prophetic Suffering have no qualms about lathering the listen with blood and refuse on their first full-length “Rivalry of Thyself,” a record that maximizes its time by delivering punishment that wrecks psyches. Death metal wasn’t originally intended to be a place of solace or peace, and this band ensures you find none of that here. This is the first full glimpse of a band bathed in complete bloodshed aiming to bring your misery levels up to theirs, which is practically torturous.
For more on the band, go here: https://propheticsuffering.bandcamp.com/
To buy the album, go here: https://sentientruin.com/releases/prophetic-suffering-rivalry-of-thyself
For more on the label, go here: https://sentientruin.com/
Meat Mead Metal 