It’s close to summer here on the East Coast of the U.S. (and elsewhere…), and the days of stomping through graveyards is about to reach its apex, with Halloween and the autumn months the peak. Who doesn’t have a story about drinking or doing other substances where the dead lie, having strange experiences, and wondering what reality is?
D.C.’s Goetia arrive with their debut full-length “Mortuary Cult,” 10 tracks of smothering, guttural death metal inspired by stories from their own sojourns through cemeteries in their own stomping grounds. It’s a morbid, dark experience that drags you over gravel and roots, leaving you bruised and bloodied as you struggle to stay in one piece. The band—vocalist/bassist Matt Scott, guitarist Demir Soyer, drummer Nadia Tydings-Lynch—brings merciless destruction that haunts deeply and completely assaults your sense, the bodies buried beneath the dirt thirsting for your flesh and blood.
“At Eternity’s Gate” is a quick intro piece with swirling sounds and drums echoing, blurring into “Lanterns of the Dead” that tears open from the start. Growls ravage as the vicious pace batters flesh, scorching leads doing further damage. Leads boil before the soloing sprawls, thrashing hard as the drums pelt, and the final blast leaves dust behind. “Posthumous Execution” is a quick assault that’s doesn’t even reach two minutes but does its best to abuse you. Demonic howls and destructive speed team up to lay down a massive beating, soloing blinding before everything is gone in a flash. The title track lands punches, using a mangling tempo to create a feral atmosphere, snarling vocals going for blood. The machine-gun pace makes your cortisol race, violent trudging grinding you in the gears, clubbing as the exhaust stretches into “Corpse Candle” that enters amid a scuffing pace. Doomy tiding create a pall, the vocals scorching as the guitars increase the heat, a brawling dose of energy rampaging. The playing utterly destroys as the leads scream, and a thrashy attack smears ashes into mouths.
“Earth Inferno” is balmy and then explodes, guitars firing up, becoming a molten force that flows toward you. The soloing bubbles before the pace races again, plastering with devastating force, leaving cinders in your teeth. “Bestial Tomb” is muddy and then storming, shrieks rippling as if spitting nails and Slayer-like leads cutting through bone. A monstrous fury rocks the earth, quaking the ground, the sounds of birds and animals raising their voices as if warning something is afoot. “Excarnation” attacks, dragging you through an oil slick, combusting as the power grinds with heavy gears. The playing rips hard as everything ramps up, the tempo flattening, the soloing exploding, getting even more insane and bleeding into “Tortures in Time” that has guitars firing and electrifying, growls hammering as the playing tears open ribcages, stomping guts and choking with dust. Howls blast as vicious pathways carve into the ground, leaving everything in ashes. Closer “Eternal Samhain” delivers a doomy blow, the leads stretching and mashing, a battering ram-style force driving air from your lungs. The pace then goes off, howls slashing and rupturing, the guitars ringing in your ears, shaking your balance before burning away.
“Mortuary Cult” is a haunting, yet destructive record that aims to take off heads and put more bodies in the cemetery that inspired them. Goetia bring hideous intensity and muscular fury to their death metal, making for more of a bruising experience. This record is perfect now for midnight missions or even in the colder, spookier months when your boots can crunch death leaves in the graveyard.
For more on the band, go here: http://instagram.com/goetia_death_cult
To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://carbonizedrecords.merchtable.com/?
Or here (Europe): https://carbonizedrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mortuary-cult
Or here (International): https://carbonizedrecordseu.com/
For more on the label, go here: https://carbonizedrecords.bandcamp.com/
Meat Mead Metal 