Death metal long ago passed by the graveyards and swamps and went interstellar and psychological, yet that hasn’t fully sunken until the past decade or so when bands such as Tomb Mold and Blood Incantation stretched the boundaries further. They weren’t the only ones, obviously, just the most recently effective, and it’s helped broaden perspectives.
Costa Rican force Astriferous arrived three years ago with an ambitious debut “Pulsations From the Black Orb,” initially revealing their colors, and they double down on “Atavistic Unraveling,” their sophomore record that continues to reach past expectations. Over six tracks and 36 minutes, the band—guitarist/vocalist Federico Gutiérrez, guitarist/vocalist Felipe Tencio, bassist/vocalist José Pablo Phillips, drummer José María Arrea—economically spreads their fury and imagination yet still manages to maintain a vicious, barbaric edge. It’s like a dream where you bleed out in space.
“Carriers of the Curse” bursts with guitars chugging, a sooty fury spreading its reach, howls clawing as the temperatures scorch. Hellish chaos destroys, shrieks frying as synth beams crash through clouds, bristling as smoke spreads, reaching into “The Floating Catacombs” that mauls right away. Howls combust as the playing dusts, the synth cooling the waters, guitars snaking into a fast, dizzying thrust. Soloing stretches as the humidity climbs, the drums mash, and the guitars collect into a hellish storm cloud. “Dissolution of Eternity” mangles and strangles, the growls engorging and blinding, the playing unloading layers of sludge. Guitars cloud as the band thrashes, growls lurching through devastation, fury racing, and the last gasps spitting exhaust.
“Proto Embryo (The Third Tribulation)” has a techy, blazing start, the power decimating as guitars strangle, the pace ignites, and the leads trample. The soloing stuns as the rhythmic pulses wrench, the growls punish, and the drumming powders skulls. “Arcane Demonomania” has the drums encircling, the speed blasting, rubbery leads grasping necks, ferocious howls exploding through walls. Guitars chew muscle as the growls lash against bone and muscle, churning to an end. “Mnemonic Phenomena” has the guitars hurtling into the cosmos, manic calls stirring psychosis, devastating as the guitars race around new angles. Drums pound as grinding hell opens around you, and then things turn into slower, doomier waters, darkening before spiraling away. Closer “Resonance Cascade” blares with synth beams, a deliberate pace shaking walls, drums kicking in as things gradually get faster. The pace shifts and wrecks, murk spreading through your bloodstream, howls retching as the gloom collects. Keys float above the chaos, guitars channel psychosis, and then everything burns into a dreamy, cosmic synth glow.
“Atavistic Unraveling” swallows you whole with aggressive, yet immersive death metal that feels like it sweeps you into another dimension, or at least another world. This is battering, psychologically challenging fury, death that isn’t as interested in blood as it is in taking you on an adventure that will scar your psyche. There are a lot of bands doing similar things at the moment, and Astriferous are hellbent on making their trip a more violent one that leaves abrasions on your skin and mind.
For more on the band, go here: https://astriferous.bandcamp.com/
To buy the album, go here: https://www.mesacounojo.com/shop/astriferous-atavistic-unraveling-lp/
O here: https://store.pulverised.net/
For more on the label, go here: https://www.mesacounojo.com/
And here: https://www.pulverised.net/
Meat Mead Metal 