There’s a lot of music out there designed to make you feel good inside, cause you to dance, put a smile on your face so you can tolerate the chaos of this world. Then there’s the opposite, music that darkens your soul, pushes you into nightmare terrain, and rots your insides, making a trip into hell something you might be able to tolerate.

UK death mashers Grave Miasma never will be mistaken as one here to elevate your mood, unless the darkest, strangest stretches of death metal warm your heart. They have returned after a long layoff from their debut record with their sophomore crusher “Abyss of Wrathful Deities,” a beast about to makes its way across the globe, proverbially blotting out the sun and threatening existence as we know it. OK, yeah, that’s obviously over the top, but when you take on the music supplied by this band—multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Y, guitarist/bassist T, drummer/percussionist D—it doesn’t seem all that exaggerated. These nine songs that bleed over 53 minutes are nightmarish, strange to navigate, and impossible to properly classify, which makes what’s going on that much more intense.  

“Guardians of Death” greets you with guitars welling up and crazed growls as the playing smashes your mind. The vocals scrape and the guitars go off, multiplying the anguished hell in which you’re immersed. The vocals keep agitating, the pace pummels, and everything ends in spacious hell. “Rogyapa” unloads bursting guitars and snarling vocals, while the pace is punchy and even a little deranged. The playing catches fire as the growls tear away at your flesh, and everything stomps as your head is left spinning. The guitars wail, the eeriness settles into your nervous system, and the playing finally relents toward the end, still rubbing your face in it. “Ancestral Waters” splatters as the growls mar, and the leads engulf and tangle you in power. Massive growls and shrieks unite and aggravate healing wounds, the guitars flood and swim, and everything ends in pure menace. “Erudite Decomposition” enters with crushing drums and a haunting, heavy vibe that refuses to quit. The growls sound like they originate from hell as the guitar playing is both smoking and airy, the leads rush, and the combination of relentless speed and strange atmosphere finally fold out.

“Under the Megalith” starts as a dizzying assault with the vocals wrenching and the playing penetrating, sending you on the run. The pace keeps gaining strength as the riffs fold, and the darkness thickens and enters your blood. The storm gets gnarlier as the playing explodes and spirals, and furious hell pushes into a violent end. “Demons of the Sand” slowly enters the picture as the growls collect, and the guitar scorches your flesh. Harsh growls only increase the bruising as the music drills its way into the earth, sending rock high into the clouds, choking out everyone within their reach. “Interlude” gives you a quick breather as its acoustics feel rustic and raw, letting the temperature come down a bit before leaning into “Exhumation Rites.” That track rips open with a driving gust and growls that crush, making you a paste stain on the ground. The playing chugs and mixes your brain chemicals, and great soloing emerges to open the lava flow. The drums unload as everything is engulfed in hell, pounding growls smear salt in the wounds, and everything comes to a jarring end. “Kingdoms Beyond Kailash” ends the album with yelled screams and a heavy dose of humidity that thickens the air. The playing hangs overhead as the hypnosis gets more involved, strange strings haunt, and the playing numbs your muscles as the song ends in an acoustic wash.

Eight years was a long wait from their full-length debut, but Grave Miasma reward our patience with “Abyss of Wrathful Deities,” one of the strangest, most destructive death metal albums we’ve encountered so far this year. This feels like it emanates from deep underground, as the forces of death rise and swallow you into hellish caverns. This is a mangling, psychologically warped record that is exciting, morbid, and as suffocatingly dark as you can find.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/gravemiasma

To buy the album, go here: http://www.darkdescentrecords.com/store/

Or here: http://www.sepulchralvoice.de/shop/

For more on the label, go here: https://www.darkdescentrecords.com/

And here: http://www.sepulchralvoice.de/

Death metal isn’t required to make you feel like you’re being dragged through gross puddles and vats of acid in hell, but it sure goes down better when it does as it gives you the violent bounty you require. No offense intended toward the more technical and polished among death’s sphere, as they certainly play a part. But the ugly stuff is what really gets us and rots our proverbial guts.

Prague destroyers Sněť are insistent on making you feel uncomfortable and bruised after you finish taking on their violent debut record “Mokvání V Okovech,” an eight-track, 28-minute crusher that attacks with no warning. Their filth-based death metal feels disgusting and probably would taste even worse if converted into a consumable, but taking it on as music, the form in which it was intended, makes for an explosive, hammering experience. The band—vocalist Řád Zdechlin, guitarists Hnisatel and Ransolič, bassist Leproduktor, drummer Krütorr—completely unloads on you and delivers death metal that feels rabid and a little trippy amid all the carnage.

“Útes Mrtvol” is an eerie intro cut that sets the stage before noise awakens, the guitars sprawl, and the bloody ferocity slips into “Kůň Kadaver” that unload with terrifying ferocity and mauling drums. Beastly growls strike as the savagery spirals out, hellish riffs crush muscle, and the guitars burn off layers, ending in filth. “Princip Křížení” has drums slashing and total demolition going off, as the vocals turn up the deathly chaos to insane levels. The playing pounds away and lets the bruising spread, the fires suffocate, and the back end delivers feedback that gnaws at your wounds. “Demon” brings cataclysmic hell from the very start as the pace is speedy and mean, and the playing even gets swaggering as they enjoy distributing humiliation. The vocals hammer away as mangling cries explode, the drums unload, and the track chugs its way out.

“Zamrzlý Vrch” has a huge opening as clouds burst and bones are mangled. The playing smears as the drums turn stone to powder, and a huge gust leaves you grasping for the walls, the growls absolutely punish, and bodies are left behind in the track’s wake. “Folivor” delivers churning guitars as the growls sound like they’re choking on soot, and the melodies are burly as hell. The growls are violent and fierce, the force mashes you into the mud, and the track ends with bloody terror. “Sakrofag” digs its claws into your flesh as the power detonates. The band thrashes away as the heat increases tenfold, and the speedy playing rips out of control. The vocals are throaty and hellish, the power multiplies, and the track ends in chaos. “Vesmírná Saliva” is the closer, unloading slow-driving power but remaining heavy as hell. The growls gurgle as the leads take off, and the pace mashes guts. The fires are agitated, the playing keeps unloading, and everything dissolve in disarming, whirring madness.

It’s impossible not to feel physically and mentally affected after taking on Sněť’s debut record “Mokvání V Okovech,” an absolutely wrenching display. There’s nothing pristine or polished about this record, though what you hear is razor sharp and deliriously rowdy, which hits all the right spots. This album is a fire breather, something that should make deviously happy any death metal fan looking for blood.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/snet666

To buy the album, go here: https://shop.bloodharvest.se/

For more on the label, go here: http://www.bloodharvest.se/

There’s never a bad time to take an extended period to enjoy nature, because no matter the time of year, there’s always something majestic to see. But right now in the U.S. is a particularly opportune time because life is bursting again, the trees are lush with leaves, and the weather is nice enough that you can spend time out there in relative comfort.

It’s also an ideal time to dig right into the heart of “Uvær,” the debut full-length record from Minnesota-based atmospheric black metal band Tvær. Their sound is huge and punishing, a nice blend of raw and bursting power that can fill you with energy and make you want to embrace our fragile surroundings while they last. The band—guitarist/vocalist AC, guitarist/bassist MH, bassist AA, drummer EC—sound like they’ve taken great inspiration from deep inside the woods, drinking deeply from their rich home state and translating that into their art that should ignite your own fire in your heart.

“I” quietly drips in before things surge, riffs charge, and great energy jolts. The shrieks tear apart any sense of calm as melodies race heavily, and chaos splatters, ripping through your senses. Fluid and mangling, the pace stomps, and the vocals crash through walls as a rush of storms ravage, the fury peaks, and everything bleeds out in cold strains. “II” starts with clean playing before the riffs open, and the shrieks hammer away. Delirious melodies smash away as the drums explode, and wild cries explode, pushing through your rib cage. That cataclysm settles into colder waters that lap over you before the volcanic power as the riffs take off, and it feels tornadic as it approaches. The playing plasters as the walls come crashing down, and that drives to a huge end before spilling out.

“III” picks up and unleashes a long stretch of clean, propulsive playing before the volcano violently bursts, leaning into a riff rampage. The guitars charge hard, smashing away and leaving you in rubble as shrill yells gnaw at your psyche. A vicious deluge strikes as the vocals hammer away, melodies pummel, and the force crushes you right to the end. “IV” begins with the drums lighting up and the riffs lapping, battering through the front gates. Clean calls echo as things turn blinding, letting melodic punishment have its way with you and icing down your mind. Shrill shrieks attack again, clean chants echo, and that leans into a clean pocket that washes over and cools the heat. That playing continues to stream before it heads off into the sea and toward instrumental closer “V.” The track is treated with rustic acoustics, a dark folk vibe, harps igniting, and a calm, solemn ending soothing wounds.

There’s not a place on earth where Tvær would have been more at home than with Bindrune Recordings, where they slip right in among a roster of like-minded creators. “Uvær” is a jarring, atmospheric, splattering first record that feels like it’ll be even more immersive once in the heart of deep nature. This is an exciting first step for a band that’s right up our fucking alley, and I can’t wait to hear where they go from here.

For more on the band, go here: https://tvaer.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://shop.bindrunerecordings.com/products/tvaer-uvaer-lp-cd-pre-order

For more on the label, go here: https://www.facebook.com/bindrunerecordings/

When I was a kid, I used to get seriously freaked out at night, which obviously doesn’t make me special or anything since that happens to so many people. But it instilled with me this weird sense that sticks with me to this day, an unsettling chill that works its way through me that I can’t explain, even having no fear of the night anymore or any apprehensions.

Music very often aggravated those old, glowing nerves, and it’s something I can’t explain. I just know it when I hear it. I really heard it with Zombi’s last album “2020,” and that carries over into that record’s companion EP “Liquid Crystal,” a five-track collection that carries over that vibe but doesn’t regurgitate it. The way the duo of Steve Moore and A.E. Paterra unleash that strangeness on this collection also is something that isn’t easy to put into words, at least as far as vibe is concerned. Basically if you were on the ride for “2020,” expect the sink even deeper into that universe on this collection.  

“Mangler” gets things started with the synth creeping in and the drums cracking as it feels like trouble is brewing. Everything feels eerie and strange with dark clouds hovering and your nerves on edge. The pace picks up, the sci-fi strangeness floods, and the playing fades into time. “Chant” feels light and airy with the bass plodding, and a mid-80s Rush feel moving in. The playing is dreamy and chilling as the pace numbs you, and cool melody snakes through the center point. The title track has keys lurching and the shadows thickening as warm air begins to pump into your face. The track has a total nighttime feel to it, cooling your flesh as guitar work slithers down your spine, leaving your blood standing. “Turning Points” runs a healthy 11:18, and guitars churn, drums echo, and the pace crawls ominously. The dreams begin to increase and get more intense, the cymbals crash, and the playing is deliberate and channeled, pushing on deeper into your mind. It feels like a beast is stalking you as your fight-or-flight tendencies kick in, the strangeness swims, and the droning keys head off into the clouds. “Black Forest” is the closer, bringing hovering synth and guitar licks that sound inspired by steamy old crime shows. All that gets under your skin as the drums hit hard, progressive vibes spit, and everything is swallowed in fog.

Zombi’s progression continues to get darker and more sinister, evidenced by what you heard on this great EP “Liquid Crystal.” The music can be equally mentally stimulating and strangely creepy as the band lurks around, looking for anything the make your nerve endings stand on end. Zombi have made a career out of proving their strange charisma is as effective telling stories musically as any words ever could be.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/ZombiBand/

To buy the album, go here: http://relapse.com/zombi-liquid-crystal/

For more on the label, go here: https://www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords/

For all the chaos that has crawled over this earth the past decade and all the anxiety and pressure so many of us have felt, it’s crucial to have a vessel for simply disappearing into the void and traveling to planes beyond your own. OK, I know you can’t do that physically as of yet, but there are escapes out there, and it’s a matter of finding what works for you.

One potential avenue comes in the form of “Paradeigma (Phosphenes of Aphotic Eternity),” the latest chapter from Czech black metal ghouls Inferno, yet another document from this band that makes you question reality. It also might help reconfigure the possibilities black metal holds as the band—vocalist Adramelech, guitarist/bassist/sound manipulator Ska-Gul, guitarist Morion, drummer Sheafraidh (Hekte Zaren also provides vocals)—takes a deep jumping off point on this, their eighth full-length effort, as they deliver soundscapes and strange journeys all while they apply coats of intergalactic black metal that will make you feel like you’re locked in a strange dream for 36 minutes.

“Decaying Virtualities Yearn for Asymptopia” is an intro track that’s instrumental, built with a hazy atmosphere and strange keys, and that swims into “The Wailing Horizon” that blasts its way open. Adramelech’s vocals acts like a ghoul in the bloodstream as the track blasts and punches through, and a cloudy fury sits overhead. A weird dream state settles in, a scary sound cloud grows and smothers, and the playing revolts, leaving you wondering where the hell you are. “Descent Into Hell of the Future” enters into trippy strangeness before the fists begin to fly, and a haunting haze gets into your mind. Beastly alien vocals chew through you before they get uglier and meaner, sending chills down your spine. The drums rumble as your spirit freezes, and then the playing ignites, the growls bubble, and everything is sucked into deep outer space.

“Phosphenes” starts with guitars opening and strange, terrifying auras settling overhead. The drums kick through the door as the stratosphere fills with fire, and eerie sounds enter hell’s front gates. Cosmic storming picks up, sending strange vibes through the universe, the drums echo, and your blood freezes in your veins. “Ekstasis of the Continuum” brings rumbling keys, kinetic drumming, and hazy chaos that does battle with the machines swinging. A dizzying synth cloud pushes in, voices call out, and a miasma of terror swirls as the track blasts out. “Stars Within and Stars Without Projected Into the Matrix of Time” ends the record, a clobbering piece that starts with drums caving in your chest and the whole thing coming alive. The guitars open and drizzle insane melodies, and battle roars pummel, pushing things into a nightmarish void. Daring energy blasts through cracks, a huge deluge of sound emerges, and cold blasts head into the stars, letting things fester and rot in the depths of the universe.

The horrors that strike and destroy through the entire body of “Paradeigma (Phosphenes of Aphotic Eternity)” are impossible to explain to someone, hard as I tried above to give you an idea of what Inferno packed into this horrifying package. It’s true the terrors we know here exist elsewhere, and Inferno spend the entire run of this nearly 36-minute adventure exposing them. It’s an experience that is purely unique to them, and every trip through this chaos changes every single part of you.  

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/InfernoCZBM/

To buy the album (North America), go here: https://debemurmorti.aisamerch.com/

Or here (Europe): https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/12-eshop

For more on the label, go here: https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/

It’s easy to be overcome with anxiety and tension in these times, and even when it seems like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, there has been so much collateral damage done to many of us, that it could be years before we feel like ourselves again. If we even get to that point. That can give way to mental heaviness and dread, two things that make healing that much more difficult.

Kataan is a new death metal project pairing Nick Thornbury of the sadly defunct Vattnet Viskar on guitars and vocals and Brett Boland of Astronoid on bass and drums, but together that do something that’s not exactly a copy of either one of their other stomping grounds. Instead, we get atmospheric death metal that is immersed in depressive imagery and existential trauma, terrain that’s certainly rich right now with so many people suffering to get by. As dark as the creations they unleash on this four-track EP can be, it’s also the sign of new life for both artists as they open this fresh venture. The EP is heavy and a rush of atmosphere, the seeds planted on what hopefully is a fruitful project.  

“Erase” starts the record with mauling passion and growls pounding away, bringing the track to an early furious rage. “Open your eyes and see, hopes and dreams are just fantasies,” Thornbury wails as the track picks up intensity. “We are nothing, none of this matters,” he stabs as the track gets more punishing, spacious playing unloads, and everything rushes from your lungs. “Abyss” delivers melodic sorrow, and clean howls swelter over the chorus, adding new textures to the picture. An atmospheric gust moves in, the growls unleash anguish, and melodic fires continue to aggravate as everything rushes into the stratosphere. “Processor” begins with the drums turning everything to dust and the playing wailing as Thornbury howls, “The end is coming.” The chorus rushes through you and feels infectious as the demolition increases, and the earth feels like it’s being torn in two. The hammers continue to drop, the fearsome destruction spreads, and everything rushes away. “Vessel” ends the record with an energetic push as washed-out cries haunt, pushing the humidity through the roof. Deadly carnage goes for the guts as an atmospheric gaze takes hold, the shrieks shred, and molten gusting spits power, chugging out and ending the record on a bruising note.

Kataan’s debut EP delivers cataclysmic power and dystopian nightmares as you watch your reality unfold before you and turn to ash. There are mild hints of each man’s other bands, but for the most part, this is a new sonic venture for each, the heaviest stuff they’ve done in a long time. This is a really promising first burst for this band whose penchant for atmospheric death metal makes their music equally enthralling and completely devastating.   

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/kataanband/

To buy the album, go here: https://shop.prostheticrecords.com/

For more on the label, go here: https://www.prostheticrecords.com/

Seeing bands change and advance through the years can be a really exciting thing for fans as you experience this journey from release to release. A lot of bands make those shifts subtly so that you’re not jarred completely when taking on new music, while others don’t care if your brains are scrambled when you crack open the fresh material.

French sludge beasts Fange are ones that have made the changes slowly, but if you started at their 2016 debut full-length “Purge” and went right into their brand-new EP “Pantocrator,” you might more easily understand the shift. But for sure the band has been advancing, and this two-track EP almost is longer than some of their full albums, and the chaos and danger is noisier and grimier than ever. The band—vocalist Matthias Jungbluth, guitarist/vocalist Benjamin Moreau, bassist/vocalist Antoine Perron—pour all of themselves into this collection, and taking on the music means a commitment to handing over your mind and body to be devastated and put to the test, making your nerve endings stronger and awash in perseverance.  

“Tombé Pour La France” opens and runs a beastly 15:34, bludgeoning and sucking the air out of the room, making you feel like your head is in a fog. The vocals are fearsome as noise wafts, at times taking on an industrial bend, and strange voices swirl through your consciousness. The growls unload as the playing keeps getting heavier, smearing your face in the soot. Weirdness lands as the pressure mounts, vicious howls strike, and smearing synth brings on ice and snow, feeling moody before things get cataclysmic. The playing brawls, hammers are launched, and everything is beaten into a bloody paste.  “Les Vergers De La Désolation” is the closer, a 15:08-long smasher that starts with noise jolting, the tension simmering, and then howls going off. Synth settles as a fiery expanse tears through forests before the band unloads a million tons of thrashing. The voices sound mechanical at times, like alien robots are trying to communicate with you, and that attempts to melt minds. Total hell is unleashed as the earth burns, and a noise bath consumes everything in its path. The guitars glimmer, huge growls leave ample bruising, and all the gears gets caked with mud, leaving the machine choking smoke as the track comes to a gut-wrenching finish.

Fange’s savagery has hardly settled, and if anything, the fires burning within this band are raging out of control, which we hear in great detail on “Pantocrator.” This EP is as massive and mighty as some bands’ full-length records, and they pack every inch of this thing with volatility and chaos. This is an EP that’ll challenge you physically and mentally and slip out unscathed with bloods on its lips.    

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/fangesludge

To buy the album, go here: https://deathwishinc.eu/collections/throatruiner-records

For more on the label, go here: https://www.throatruinerrecords.com/

Not everything is built to last. No matter how good something might be. That definitely is the case with bands as they can be volatile machines, and despite how good the music might be, that doesn’t mean that the artistic life will last forever. It was actually when it came to writing this story that I learned progressive death metal band Vex is no more, and that left me quite sad.

The good news is from the ashes of Vex was born Aduanten, a band that combines members of groups such as Obsequiae and Ruins of Honor and adds special guests along the way from members who played with Panopticon and Horrendous. Their debut EP “Sullen Cadence” is the first taste we get from these former Vex members, and the four tracks here are absolute pounders, a bit of a pick me up for anyone like me who is sad that Vex is no more. The core of the band—guitarist Ciaran McCloskey, guitarist/synth player Michael Day, drummer/synth player Eoghan McCloskey—are joined by a host of collaborators including Tanner Anderson and Damian Herring on vocals, Joel Miller on bass, and Adrian Benavides on synth and percussion, and every person involved is responsible for making this the aggressive, punishing experience that it is. And this is just their start!

“The Drowning Tide” rips the thing open with Anderson’s shrieks raining down, and melodic menace flows out of every corner. The chorus is strong and pummels your chest, the emotion wells up, and a break-neck change heads into sludge before things go clean and wash away. The title track is spacious when it begins with hand drumming rumbling and the bass slinking. Voices enter the mix and hypnotize as a moody surge strikes, and then all hell breaks loose. The vocals slash as fluid crushing pushes its way in, and then the playing gets more abrasive, your head feels like it’s flooding, and everything turns to ice water before draining into the fog. “The Corpses of Sum” has the bass plodding and the sounds rising while the shrieks tear away flesh. Things get manic as the pace gets burly, the vocals chew at bone, and then strangeness spreads and sickens. The intensity builds, things speed up, and everything ends engulfed in flames. “Palace of Ruin” closes things and starts with a heavy buzz and then brief solemnity that’s shredded by Anderson’s shrieks. The music bubbles over as the heat causes the lid to pop and punches to be thrown. The atmosphere increases as great lead work burns through, desperate shrieks hammer, and everything comes to a head and is washed away.

As sad as I am to see Vex no longer a member of metal’s living, Aduanten’s potential is vast, and these four tracks on “Sullen Cadence” certainly hint at a massive, promising future. The playing is nasty and spacious, and every part of it is exciting and punishing. This is a pretty damn raucous display, an EP that serves as a warning that their most vicious days are left to come, so it’s time to grow some callouses so you can withstand the beating.   

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Aduanten

To buy the album, go here: https://aduanten.bandcamp.com/album/sullen-cadence

It’s been in the 60s for the most part these past few weeks, a nice change of pace after we had an actual winter for the first time in years and years. Having the windows open and being able to walk the dog at any time and just basking in warmer weather has been a nice boost for the psyche that has suffered for far too long. And this morning we woke up to snow, and we’re right back in it.

I’m saying that as I’m about to discuss “Frostwinter,” the first full-length from Nordgeist, a one-woman black metal project helmed by an artist who goes by T. Here I am complaining about a little bit of snow, and she’s stationed in Siberia, where the frigid weather is far more oppressive than it is here in Pittsburgh in April. This four-track, 52-minute monster feels like a blizzard piling down on you, using Nordic-influenced black metal and her gargantuan shrieks to pull you through the madness. There also is a ton of delirious melody laced through these songs, entering your bloodstream and heart and somehow keeping you warm even as the temperature gets dangerously low in your mind.

“Winter” dawns in a heavy storm, feeling like blinding snow and TV static combined and rushing down. Strong melody and cavernous chaos unite as the emotion wells, and the playing surges. The momentum catches fire and warps, storming into gusts of power, rounding back to the encircling riffs that acts as the spine. The whole thing entangles and enraptures, the snows blanket, and wild winds take the track to its end. “The Old Wolf” also situates in a deep gust as a horrifying pace takes hold. The track rampages as sounds burst, and raw melodies eat into your chest. Power rushes as the riffs get impossibly catchy, the melodies lap, and the vocals crush, leading to a halo of energy. The track then gets swallowed by extreme frigidity, ending with keys plinking like ice daggers.

“Revenge” opens with the winds gathering and the keys collecting with the vocals crushing your flesh. Melodic playing snowballs and flies down the hill, ripping open wintry hell and coming to a tornadic explosion that feels kind of frightening. Hypnosis takes over and stirs, the power increases until the storming is relentless, and a whirling spiral digs into the earth and whips to an icy finish. “Sorrow” ends the record with frigid footsteps crunching, and huge riffs arriving and bringing a freezing fury that knows no mercy. A deluge of melody crashes through the floodgates, driving into the night, hammering away as blood and ice mix. Guitars pile up and get inside your psyche, the playing chugs and burns, and winter’s mighty grip takes you by the throat and drags you back into the blizzard.

It’s a strange time to be basking in the ice and snow, but Nordgeist’s “Frostwinter” really can be enjoyed in any season, even if it’s getting warmer in many parts of the world. It’s hard to imagine anything else coming from T as she exists in ice-cold Siberia, and what you hear on this record is a product of environment, a suffocating experience that leaves you dangerously blue. This is an album enraptures and sticks with you, further proof black metal still has a lot to offer from artists who are willing to put something extra into the music.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/nordgeist.official

To buy the album, go here: http://lnk.spkr.media/nordgeist-frostwinter

For more on the label, go here: https://kunsthall.ch/

There are large swaths of America that are unsavory. Try not to fall over in shock. But ever since the pandemic stated last year, we’ve truly seen some of the worst behavior from people from refusing the do fuck all to protect their friends and family to outright denying anything is wrong to once again showing zero compassion for disadvantaged and minorities who tend to suffer most in these horrors.

None of this was lost on Denver crushers Oryx, whose devastating new record “Lamenting a Dead World” digs right into these awful truths and exposes them for anyone still blinded by their own realities. These behaviors are nothing new for America (and it’s not just limited to our country), but in these times when our actions are under a microscope as well as the way we treat a global epidemic that is killing us every day, it’s disgusting and offensive that we have people acting like they do, thinking they’re above it all, smarter than all. The band—vocalist/guitarist/synth player Tommy Davis, bassist Eric Dodgion, drummer Abigail Davis—unload their rage and desire the see these wrongs righted as they lay out a molten collection that simmers in doom and black metal, leaving burns marks behind. By the way, this record also features heavy-hitting guest spots from Ethan McCarthy (Primitive Man, Many Blessings), Paul Reidl (Blood Incantation, Spectral Wound), and Erika Osterhout (Scolex, Cthonic Deity) to enhance these already destructive pieces.

“Contempt” starts the record in a pit of filth and vile sounds as the shrieks chew at your bones. Demolition unloads and slams through brick walls, the playing brawls heavily, and a gross underbelly shows itself and spills its guts, bleeding out into noise. “Misery” opens with noise hanging as the playing teases, and a doomy storm opens and rains tar onto the ground. Shrieks scrape as the band clubs away and leaves bruising, digging deeply and dangerously into the muscle. Growls lurch as the band gets deeper and deeper into the muck, and the fury is so thick you can spread it between bricks. The guitars go off and melt faces, nasty vocals tear into you, and everything stomps toward an acidic finish.

“Last Breath” fittingly sits in dark and somber waters, the shrieks lay into you, and a fiery cavern explodes and swallows you inside. Guitars catch fire and begin to eat through forests, charring and chewing up terrain as the humidity builds, making breathing tougher. Growls soak in acid, guitars rise again, and that sorrow returns as the track spreads and smothers, ending in ash. The title track is an instrumental cut builds on noise swimming and guitars hanging in the air, letting the doom take you in its hands and deface you. “Oblivion” ends the record, a 15:01 mammoth that begins with drums awakening and a gloomy cloud cover hanging overheard before you get mashed. Shrieks echo as the sounds feel like nails on steel with the vocals smearing and muscular guitars flexing. The atmosphere builds as you’re bludgeoned, growls kill, and cosmic synth spills into the scene. The power surges as everything explodes, cosmic weightiness leans in, and the heat gathers as the guitars punish, with the purge finally ending with you heaving.

Records like “Lamenting a Dead World” aren’t going to correct the behavior and attitude of half a country, but what Oryx do here on this collection is perform the proverbial “we see you” with a promise to fight that with fire and chaos. We’re still suffering, we’re not out of the woods, and people still refusing to help are the ones who can be squarely blamed. This can be a downright ugly place, and the longer we refuse to acknowledge this, the longer it’ll take to make the right changes to benefit everyone’s well being.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/theeoryx

To buy the album, go here: https://orcd.co/lamentingadeadworld

For more on the label, go here: https://translationloss.com/