Horror and gore walk hand-in-bloody-hand with heavy metal and always have. It’s one of the main tenets of death metal, and it’s why a lot of people come to the genre. It’s not what first attracted me, but I’ve come to appreciate that aesthetic having grown up watching slasher flicks and digging further in the muck the last 30 years.
French death metal ghouls Disfuneral smear truckloads of doom into their sound as well, and on their second record “In Horror, Reborn” they slather that with plasma and guts in as smoldering a manner possible. But it’s not, like, a Cannibal Corpse thing. It’s more chilling and steeped in tradition as the band—vocalist Renaud Mann, guitarist Florian Brabant, bassist Clément Favre, drummer Yann Remy—levels with a gargantuan stomp that sticks in the earth. It’s a good time, and it steamrolls with a 75/25 mix of death and doom metal that drives hard and doesn’t relent until your face is buried in the dirt.
“Catacomb Dwellers” starts in a soot pile before super doomy guitars kick in, giving a vintage feel, but you know it’s about to get harrowing. The track tears open fully, crushing as howls maim, and snarling, yet catchy leads keep pushing further into the abyss, ending on a scorching note. “Tombs Vomiting the Dead” bathes in filth and tramples with reckless abandon, the growls sickening while the pace boils and gets noticeably faster. A driving force greets your ribcage while the tempo thrashes, ending in fire and ash. “Ripped From Within” is a mauler, working a little slower but with ample heaviness. Growls gurgle as the leads gain more heat, landing blows as the playing encircles and ravages you whole. “Crypt of Demented” has guitars snaking, coarse howls blistering, and the band pounding away, showing no mercy at all. The misery spreads as the pace hits the gas pedal, Mann’s wails torching as everything is charred, with only trace amounts of flesh remaining.
“Extremity in Morbidity” is gruff with muscular howls and a punk-ish drive, feeling catchy but also dangerous. Guitars scuff as the vocals bloody noses, spacious leads taking over and spilling into warped melodies. “Dark Ages Ritual” brings steamy, calculated fury, the growls drawing blood as the downtuned guitars show off swagger and sinew. The playing then bursts with life, dragging you through nightmarish tunnels and into awaiting damnation. “Blessed by Decay” is a faster one to start, throaty madness from Mann and a stomping pace feeling like they’re squashing guts. Guitars chug before blazing, scorching flesh and liquifying bone, a furious ending gust heading right into the title track. You have almost no time to breathe as the drums unload and the guitars consume whole, a hardcore vibe making its way into the mix, giving off an even tougher demeanor. Burly tones meet with doom that brings crippling humidity, coming to a ravaging end. Closer “Call From the Void” greets with the drums destroying, a fiery pace taking hold, and a storm that gains strength and slowly subsides, only to be resparked by the bass chewing through flesh. A doomy pall drags over you like an ashen blanket, the drumming gutting, and blistering wails sending their final stabs that jab away at your sanity.
Disfuneral’s doom-encrusted death sounds as vibrant and gory as ever on “In Horror, Reborn,” a record that promises horrors and delivers in spades. Each track has an urgency and ferocity that is impossible to avoid, with any of your listening sessions threatening to end with you noticeably less equipped to manage emotionally. This is a properly ferocious statement, one that demands blood and bone and does whatever it can to collect all of the tortured souls it can find.
For more on the band, go here: https://disfuneral-fr.bandcamp.com
To buy the album, go here: https://redefiningdarkness.8merch.us/
Or here: https://redefiningdarkness.8merch.com/
For more on the label, go here: https://www.redefiningdarkness.com/
Meat Mead Metal 