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Diabolizer – Murderous Revelations Review

By Tyme

‘O mighty sub-genre, how you vex me. As our human need to bring order to chaos and make sense of complexity increases, so does the proliferation of the sub-genre and its many sub-sub offshoots. Where once only death metal stood, today, a plethora of choices exist. And because that most un-descriptively generalized tag wasn’t enough, we now banter over the finer nuances of tech death vs. old school vs. melodic, brutal, ultra brutal, and more. I’m not deriding the importance of sub-categories and their use in the metalverse as much as I’m highlighting the fact that sometimes, it’s refreshing to run across an album that strikes at the heart of a genre. Enter Turkey’s Diabolizer. After receiving a coveted 4.0 from Holdeneye in 2021 for Khalkedonian Death, Diabolizer returns to rape your ears with its second unholy metal of death platter, Murderous Revelations. Will this sophomore effort find Diabolizer taking a step back from their well-received debut, or will the onslaught continue, another clawing leap toward the upper echelon of death metal practitioners?

Murderous Revelations‘ deliciously demonic cover art reveals much about Diabolizer‘s brand of death metal. Straight out of the get-go of hell’s gate, “Into the Depths of Diseased Minds” sears the senses with swirling speeds and tricky time signatures, a maelstrom of riffs that set the stage for what the entirety of Murderous Revelations has in store. With its founding lineup intact and still repping pedigree—members hail from Hyperdontia, Burial Invocation, and Engulfed—Diabolizer merges its Deicidedly Cannibal Corpseish chunk-n-chugs perfectly with rifferous technical velocity that’s full of Nileistic Krisiunisms. Reminiscing on a younger me hearing the likes of Malevolent Creation and Krisiun for the first time, Murderous Revelations hit like a time capsule, instantly returning me to a simpler age. It is a solid step forward that shows, once again, how Diabolizer shines with plenty of pristine performances and the ability to merge many styles into something so purely death metal it defies sub-categorization.

Diabolizer‘s guitar hero duo of Can and Mustafa drop savage riff after savage riff (“Purulent Divinity in Black Flames”) and bring tons of technically tornadic, swirling solos to bear with vile virtuosity (“Seeds of the Dethroned”). Malik’s excellent finger-happy bass work provides many a Ramen noodle moment (“Bloodstream Bonegrinder”), complementing Abberant, who barbarously bashes through every track on Murderous Revelations, laying down a vicious sledge to the head style drummeling. Completing Diabolizer’s cadre of calamity is vocalist Abomination. His brutal, ground-shaking roars still harken to scene veterans like Glen Benton and Christian Älvestam, to be sure. Still, I hear a fair amount of Barney Greenway’s Napalm Death snarl in Abomination’s lower register, and this serves as a foil to his newly developed vomitous rasp (“Hogtied in Razorwire”), which took me aback at first but has grown on me with repeat listens.

Making a strong case that Diabolizer should be this Turkish quintet’s main gig, the songwriting on Murderous Revelations is top-notch and wastes nary a moment of its value-packed run time. A relentless onslaught that maintains a breakneck pace, Murderous Revelations provides listeners with nearly no air to breathe. The only moments of respite come at the outset of “Set the World Ablaze (“Infernal Dawn”) with its majestic, mid-paced riff and tremolo opening and the brief fade-in to “Deathmarch of the Murderous Tyrant,” which revs up and shoves its boot right back down on your windpipe. There’s so much I like about Murderous Revelations that I’ve been racking my brain, searching for some balancing critique to levy. So, while I’m still not 100% on board with Abominations’ new, raspy tone at times, that quibble is a minor one.

Diabolizer provides bree-bree-free brutality with layman’s terms technicality and enough chug-chugs to satiate my inner caveman. Murderous Revelations is death metal performed as Satan intended. It left my face in a state of perma-stank, and fans of Khalkedonian Death should be well-pleased. I’m incredibly blessed to be able to do what I do here, and the shine of my most recent status change still blinds me sometimes. I want to thank Holdeneye for introducing me to Diabolizer four years ago and for entrusting me to share my thoughts on Murderous Revelations.1 It’s a fantastic death metal album I’m sure to be talking about come year’s end.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Labels: Dark Descent Records | Me Saco Un Ojo Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: April 11th, 2025

#2025 #40 #Apr25 #CannibalCorpse #DeathMetal #Deicide #Diabolizer #EverlastingSpewRecords #KrisiunUnOjoRecords #MeSacoUnOjoRecords #MurderousRevelations #Nile #Review #TurkishMetal

Shrine of Denial – I, Moloch Review

By Thus Spoke

I’m starting to think there might be something in the water over in Turkey. Not two full years after Serpent of Old and their phenomenal debut Ensemble Under the Dark Sun blew my tiny mind, Shrine of Denial threaten to do the same. Sharing a home country and a label and implying a similar sound to Serpent of Old in their one-sheet, it was easy to go in expecting a carbon-copy of the former. While certain quirks suggest the idea of a native style, Shrine of Denial have more than enough personality of their own, forming I, Moloch with blackened death metal channeled through a sound that feels as old and trve as it does fresh and unique.

I, Moloch is gritty, fast, and technical. Punchily-delivered vocals and fast, off-beat tempos that almost recall The Black Dahlia Murder, meet with menacing riffwork that mimics a faster Morbid Angel, and is most closely akin to last years’ Keres, and throaty growls barked or roared, often in unison. Lurking about the compositions are tones and some pretensions to atmospheric dissonance that sound—yes—a bit like Serpent of Old (“Climbing Through Nothingness,” “The Mesmer”). But Shrine of Denial eschew eerie ambiguity in favour of straightforward meanness, delivering their discordant harmonies through spidery fretwork and the occasional twisting, piercing line. The low-DR, new-school-old-school production that wraps guitar solos in delicious echo, pushes the percussion to the front and into the golden zone of satisfyingly crisp crashy-bangyness, and emphasises the roughness of the vocals is the perfect packaging. This sounds bloody fantastic.

Shrine of Denial excel at elevating the elements of their music in a way that injects new vitality and intrigue into old styles, but doesn’t denigrate their unvarnished heaviness. There is much that feels vaguely familiar on I, Moloch, but it is reinterpreted and reinvigorated through impressive performances and idiosyncratic habits that give Shrine of Denial instant individuality. Guitar lines threading through compositions are immediate and hooky (“Oneiros,” “Headless Idol”), but subtly they spin a more complex web that gives the songs depth, and take you almost by surprise as thematic reprise bursts into a thrilling solo (“I, Moloch,” “Pillars of Ice”). The drumwork is far more complex than it needed to be, but the effort pays off in spades, with the compositions becoming exhilaratingly energetic; my jaw was frequently on the floor in appreciation of the flicky precision and kicky fills (especially “A Sanctuary In The Depths Of The Realms,” “Pillars of Ice,” and “Oneiros”). Further, the way Shrine of Denial use syncopation between percussion, vocal delivery, and on-off riff patterns gives them that much more impact, where otherwise they might have shrunken under their technicality (“I, Moloch,” “Temple of the Corpse Misuser”). What few truly melodious passages there are shine when they do appear in the aforementioned solos, or in the hints of grace to certain quite OSDM-sounding refrains; the beauty of their high, cavernous resonance makes it that much more heartbreaking that they are so rare.

There is precious little wastage on I, Moloch. With a runtime this swift, but songs this compelling, it’s clear that Shrine of Denial are smart songwriters, knowing that to win over their listener, it’s better to leave them a little hungry. These 31 minutes are bursting with slick, thrilling, downright gnarly musicianship, and a presence that belies this brevity. Everything exudes a fresh and snappy approach to disso-death, and blackened death, and whatever subgenres they incorporate, that makes them more approachable, but keeps just enough conventionality, and more than enough brutality and technicality, to satisfy. The main problems, therefore, with I, Moloch are: a) I would like more, and b) I would like them to let their extreme tendencies play out a little further; that is to say—there aren’t any real problems. In seriousness, I, Moloch’s abbreviation and slight camouflage of seeming more straightforward than it is does let Shrine of Denial down a tad; but it’s early days, and I’m more than happy to wait for them to really let loose.

Really, I, Moloch does everything you could ask it to. It’s punchy and slick, with clear signs of powerful promise waiting to be capitalised upon once Shrine of Denial fully lock in. It’s a bite-sized helping of top-shelf blackened death that gets me very excited for the band’s future career, and it’s another impressive debut to come from a country with a growing reputation of fostering extreme metal talent.

Rating: Very Good
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Transcending Obscurity
Websites: shrineofdenial.bandcamp | facebook.com/shrineofdenial
Releases Worldwide: March 7th, 2025

#2025 #35 #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #BlackenedThrashMetal #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #IMoloch #Keres #Mar25 #MorbidAngel #Review #Reviews #SerpentOfOld #ShrineOfDenial #TheBlackDahliaMurder #TranscendingObscurityRecords #TurkishMetal

Stuck in the Filter: April 2024’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

The heat persists. Intensifies, even. We’re not even to the dead center of summer, where pavement melts and sinew sloughs off of bones. And yet, we toil. Endless trudges through the slime and grime of sharply angled ducts and beveled sheet metal characterize an average workday for my filtration minions, who do my bidding without question as I sip a piña colada in these run down and ragged headquarters. Alright fine, we don’t have piña coladas here, but a sponge can dream! A sponge can dream…

What was I saying? Oh, right. After many months of constant pep talks and gentle reminders with a cattle prod, my team of ~~hack~~ crack sifters managed a respectable haul from our April buildup. Dive in at your own peril!

Kenstrosity’s Sooty Slab

Exhumation // Master’s Personae [April 26th, 2024 – Pulverised Records]

Indonesian blackened death duo Exhumation never would’ve made it to my queue were it not for our burgeoning Discord server. Rollicking tunes, produced with a charming rawness that tingles my spine, task themselves with the summary destruction of that same spine and waste no time getting started. From the onset of opener “In Death Vortex,” Master’s Personae eviscerates with rabid teeth gnashing through my flesh. Ghoul (guitars) and Bones (vocals) display their respective talents vomiting souls out of their body and concocting sickening infernal riffs with aplomb—and made damn sure their session musicians could do more than just keep up on bass (Sebek), drums (Aldi), and lead guitar (J. Magus). With songs that kick as much ass-tonnage as highlights “Pierce the Abyssheart,” “Chaos Feasting,” “Thine Inmost Curse,” and late bloomer “Mahapralaya,” the only thing that could possibly stand in between you and total metallic indoctrination is the record’s gritty, extra-crunchy production. For some, that might even be its greatest selling point. Either way, Master’s Personae is, at its core, just a nonstop demonic party. Ipso facto, if you like fun, you like this. If you don’t, leave the Hall!

Thus Spoke’s Chucked Choices

Alpha Wolf // Half Living Things [April 5th, 2024 – SharpTone Records]

Aussie gang Alpha Wolf have always had an “angry” sound, but until now, they remained quite firmly smack dab in the middle of modern metalcore. With Half Living Things,1 however, the band move as far as they ever have into beatdown hardcore, albeit, a very glossy, and very metalcore interpretation of it. While many, myself included, think they sound better with a little bit of intrigue, a little bit of mournful melody and atmosphere, there’s no denying that this album does contain several bone-fide bangers. Opening run “Bring Back the Noise,” “Double-Edge Demise,” and “Haunter,” are a groovy set of smacks upside the head, and later cuts “Feign,” and “A Terrible Day for Rain” echo the same menace, safely keeping your head bobbing and your mean face on. The aggression can veer into the realm of cringe at points, not least on single “Sucks 2 Suck,” which includes the wild misstep of a thuggish rap bridge courtesy of ICE-T. But on the other hand, Alpha Wolf do show they have a heart, with surprisingly sadboi “Whenever You’re Ready,” and closer “Ambivalence.” It’s all pretty angsty, but questionable decisions aside, Half Living Things is worth at least the time it takes you to hear one or two of its best tracks. I’ll always be here for a little bit of adolescent ennui anyway.

Sarcasm // Mourninghoul [April 12th, 2024 – Hammerheart Records]

Whilst still a n00b, I reviewed Sarcasm’s previous album, Stellar Stream Obscured, and, to my initial surprise, really rather liked it. It was simply a quirk of circumstance that I didn’t pick up the promo for Mourninghoul. And looking back on that week, I wish I had. This thing is just as fun, just as furious, and once again the perfect balance between odd and straightforwardly blistering. Once again, they lace creepy organs and synthwork into death doom (“Withered Memories of Souls We Mourn,” “No Solace From Above”) to add a little mystique. Once again, they display some brilliant, beautiful, melodic black(ened death) metal riffery to lead refrains (“Lifelike Sleep,” “Dying Embers of Solitude,” “Absence if Reality”), not only soaking the listener in the nostalgia of the golden years of Dissection and Necrophobic, but memorable and moving in their own right. Overall, the album is a little slower and more atmospheric than its predecessor, but in this light perhaps a little more thoughtful. One to check out for anyone who dug Stellar Stream Obscured.

Dear Hollow’s Loudness Lard

Lord Spikeheart // The Adept [April 19th, 2024 – Haekalu Records]

Lord Spikeheart is the alias of Martin Kanja, one-half of grind/noise duo Duma, whose sole self-titled LP was received warmly back in 2020 by the gone-but-unforgotten Roquentin. Now a solo act, Spikeheart fully embraces the manic in his debut full-length The Adept, a fusion of noise, industrial, trap, grind, and hip-hop and tinged with native Kenyan instruments. – guaranteed to scare off unwanted listeners. Featuring a bevy of featured artists, The Adept is as jerky and unpredictable as you might expect from its laundry list of sounds. Including all, but not limited to, Author & Punisher-level of manufactured brutality (“Sham-Ra”), layers of jagged hip-hop a la Skech185 (“Emblem Blem,” “Djangili,” “33rd Degree Access”), and outright metal guitar solos and blastbeats (“Nobody”), as well as outright bananas explosive Igorrr-esque breakcore seizures and Kenyan percussion (“TYVM”) and ominous sprawls of haunting humid ambiance over manic beats (“Rem Fodder,” “Verbose Patmos,” “4AM in the Mara”), and there is little that is predictable about The Adept. Throw on Lord Spikeheart’s incredible charisma, shocking vocals, and evocative primal songwriting, and you’ve got yourself a tastefully insane and impressively uncomfortable slab of experimentation that feels dangerous and unrelenting in the right ways.

Whores. // War. [April 16th, 2024 – The Ghost is Clear Records]

Sometimes you just need a good concussion and drool out your brains to the curb because you got dinged around so much. Atlanta four-piece Whores. will provide mightily in more ways than one. Professing a riff-heavy noise rock/sludge metal combo reminiscent of Chat Pile or Iron Monkey, each of the tracks in War.’s 34-minute runtime is a thick-ass spanker with thick-ass riffs, bad-ass cymbal abuse, and mad-ass yells, and you’d be a fool to miss this broken-tooth abuse. Groove is embedded in the marrow of each bone, and the swill of riffs and noisy leads will get your head bobbing before you can learn how to pronounce opener “Malinches.” From the outright onslaughts of “Imposter Syndrome” and “Sicko,” to the bass builds and guitar squonks of “Quitter’s Fight Song” and “Hostage Therapy” or punky rhythms of “Hieronymous Bosch was Right” and “The Death of a Stuntman,” you don’t need to get all academic to abuse the drywall, and Whores. will set their teeth behind your bruised knuckles. The message is clear: get unga-bunga with riff.

Spit on Your Grave // Arkanum [April 12th, 2024 – Self Release]

You always run a risk when you change up your sound, even slightly. Mexican death metal peddlers Spit on Your Grave are familiar with it. Formerly bringin’ the slamz and gooey brutal shit to your court with unhinged insanity, Arkanum keeps the core sound while incorporating more tempo and nimbleness, making a blazing death metal album with some Behemoth-esque experimentation that keeps the album from falling into gnarly monotony and injects a necessary regality reflected in its art. Subtle plucking motifs grace opener “The Infection” and closer “The March of the Innocents,” chanting and choirs spruce up limper portions of “Into the Devil’s Realm,” and dancy rhythms and melodeath noodling kick up “Broken Hourglass.” In spite of the levels of experimentation, the riff reigns supreme throughout, made most plain in the no-holds-barred death metal assaults of “The Heretic,” “Dark Lullaby,” and “Self Sacrifice.” It’s somewhere between Behemoth’s wicked conjuration of crowns and Hate Eternal’s blazing scorched earth campaign, and while imperfect, Spit on Your Grave’s new direction is tantalizing.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Crossed Up Casting

Nuclear Tomb // Terror Labyrinthian [April 12th, 2024 – Everlasting Spew]

Filthy, frothing, furious, Nuclear Tomb embodies all that fueled the origins of the thrash and death movements, which actively rejected the tonal shift toward “pleasing” that pop-leaning forms of heavy metal were taking at the time. So, yes, it’s unsurprising to hear a punky and driven bass identity reminiscent of the overdriven pummeling of Dan Lilker in Nuclear Assault or Stéphane Picard in Obliveon. But though thrash rings true in the speed-needing assaults of “Fatal Visions” or “Vile Humanity,” death—the gnarled yet precise riffcraft you would heard in an early Pestilence summoning—feeds ugly and foul this acts hefty ambitions. Terror Labyrinthian gives exactly what its name promises: a sense of profound encapsulation and isolation in the density that Nucleur Tomb conjures alongside a sci-fi-informed fear and terror. Its ambition is such that it can fly off the rails a touch when it gets too moody (“Dominance & Persecution”), and its level of discordance can leave tracks feeling like intangible pulps of sick and snarling riffage (“Manufacturing Consent,” “Parasitic”). Despite these minor concerns, Labyrinthian Terror shakes enough to leave a worthy, full-length mark after two promising EPs. And with members of Nuclear Tomb floating around in their small scene with oddball grinders Ixias and the avant-minded Genevieve, it’s all but a promise that what comes next will be weird, frightening, and demanding.

Steel Druhm’s Rancid Requiems to Rotpitting

Engulfed // Unearthly Litanies of Despair [April 19th, 2024 – Me Saco Ojo]

Straight outta Turkey comes the vicious, face-melting death metal assault of Engulfed. Featuring members of Hyperdontia and Diabolizer and bearing hallmarks of both, Engulfed are a nasty savage on a war march to destroy all that lives and breathes. With a highly seasoned lineup and a lethal mission statement, Unearthly Litanies of Despair is a “not fucking around” kind of death platter full of blazing speed, thunderous blasts, and more sub-basement croaks and roars than you’d find in an illegal Balrog mining facility. All the old school legends get sound checked, with plenty of Vader, Morbid Angel, and Incantation-isms to be unearthed, but to my ears, Engulfed sounds most like brother band Diabolizer. That’s certainly not a bad thing, as anyone who heard 2021s Khalkedonian Death will attest. There’s not much subtly on display on Unearthly Litanies, and Engulfed are happy to blast away at Mach 9 for the bulk of the album’s runtime, only slowing down long enough to let slithery riffs do their tentacle things. It isn’t until the closing stanza “Occult Incantations” that they opt to get down and doomy, and though it runs way long at nearly 8 minutes, it digs up some nicely dark, gloomy textures. All in all a brutal trip to the belly of the beast feaster!

Coffin Curse // The Continuous Nothing [April 22nd, 2024 – Memento Mori]

The sophomore offering from Chile’s Coffin Curse is 100% military grade old school death with enough rot and pus to win over any genre fancier. The Continuous Nothing is really a continuous something, and that something is gnarly, thrashing death goodness in the varicose vein of Autopsy with some Deicide and Morbid Angel in the gore batter. There’s absolutely nothing new here, but the enthusiasm with which Coffin Curse comes at the classic death style is refreshing and invigorating. You’ll be smiling early into opener “Thin the Herd” due to its oh-so-righteous blend of Autopsy and vintage Morbid Angel, and it’s tough to blast “Bacchanal of the Mortal” and not want to throw your BarcaLounger out the fucking window. This is meat n’ tatters gutter death that could have come out in the late 80s or early 90s, but that doesn’t lessen its vitality and impact since these cats know how to write a ripping tune. I’m especially enamored with the disgusting vocals of Max Neira who gives even the hideous Chris Reifert a run for his scuzz-vomit money. This thing is just good, gross fun!

Tombstoner // Rot Stink Rip [April 26th, 2024 – Redefining Darkness]

Staten Island-based death thugs Tombstoner came back to kill with second album Rot Stink Rip, showcasing a whole lotta New York attitude. With a sound mixing mouth-breathing caveman brutality with New York hardcore undertones, the menu items all come with brass knuckles and steel-toed boots to your fat face (no substitutions!). This is street-level tough guy death with a Biohazard/Pantera-level IQ and anything remotely intellectual is tossed in the dumpster like a carpet-wrapped corpse. Songs like “Sealed in Blood” will rot your brain stem as it curb stomps your skull, and the beefy death grooves are ugly, stupid, and dangerous. Internal Bleeding-isms rebound off Skinless idioms amid the brainless forward momentum of the title track, and the groove-busting, barroom-bullying nastiness of primal cuts like “Metamorphosis” and “Reduced to Hate” are made for Roids Appreciation Day at Planet Meathead. The riffs are hella weighty and the overall approach is lead pipe brutality. Don’t bother spinning this if you’re one of those fancy-dancy tech types. This one is strictly for the gashouse gorillas and pimpanzees.

Saunders’ Slimy Selections

Satanic North // Satanic North [April 19th, 2024 – Reaper Entertainment]

Featuring members of Ensiferum, Finnish black metal troupe Satanic North ripped out a seething slab of old school black metal on their self-titled debut. Although the album seemed to drop with minimal fanfare or notice, having been clued into its existence, Satanic North has since provided a helluva fun time. Satanic North pull no punches and dispense with flash or bombast, adding modern beef to an endearingly old school formula that stomps hard. Harnessing the raw, punky, Venom-esque attitude of ’80s black metal, along with distinctive second-wave elements, and dashes of Darkthrone and Goatwhore, Satanic North is a varied, aggressive and utterly addictive opus. Regardless of the mode of destruction the band chooses at any given time, the songwriting quality generally maintains the rage. Grim, icy atmospheres envelope blasting, viciously executed songs, loaded with a bevy of badass riffs and pissed-off attitude. The relentless, hammering blows on opener “War,” sit comfortably alongside the crawling, sinister melodies and infectious hooks of “Village,” while expert pacing and builds highlight epic later album gem, “Kohti Kuolemaa.” Satanic North throw down some awesomely thrashy barnburners for good measure on powerhouse nuggets of black gold in the shape of “Wolf” and closer “Satanic North.” One of 2024’s underrated gems.

Iron Monkey // Spleen & Goad [April 5th, 2024 – Relapse Records]

UK veterans Iron Monkey’s 1998 opus Our Problem is a sludge classic that I’ve held in high regard for many years. Sadly, the untimely death of raw-throated vocalist Johnny Morrow, a distinctive, glass-gurgling beast behind the mic, saw the band dissolve, until reforming and crafting a solid comeback with 2017’s 9-13. Stripped own to a trio in their second coming, with long-serving guitarist Jim Rushby doing an admirable job taking over the vocal slot, Iron Monkey sound as though the piss, vinegar, and hatred still flows in their veins. Spleen & Goad offers few surprises, continuing the trend of its predecessor while maintaining the signature Iron Monkey sound. And although Iron Monkey cannot quite match the esteemed heights of their early days, this modern, well-trodden incarnation of the band still bludgeons, grooves and seethes with sledgehammer force and infectiously diseased riffs. Channeling the bluesy Sabbathian meets NOLA mode of sludge, with a side of Grief, and a shit ton of spite, the Iron Monkey lads deliver the goods again. Noisy, feedback-drenched bruisers rule the day; as swaggering, drunken grooves, surly riffs, and feral vocals drive this unhinged hate machine. Spleen & Goad is victim to some creeping bloat, however overall, it’s a stellar return and addition to their storied catalog, as rugged, bludgeoning cuts like “Misanthropizer,” “Concrete Shock,” “Rat Flag” and “Lead Transfusion” attests.

Mystikus Hugebeard’s Filthy Finding

Diabolic Oath // Oracular Hexations [April 5th, 2024 – Sentient Ruin Laboratories]

Oracular Hexations is a blast. It is a chaotic, colossally dense album of what can ostensibly be called blackened death metal, but the music is just so fucking filthy it might as well be sludge. The fun thing here is that the guitar and bass are completely fretless; the riffs aren’t hard to parse but the guitars feel almost slippery. It allows the brutal riffage of a heavy track like “Serpent Coils Suffocating the Mortal Wound” to become borderline hallucinogenic, while still hitting like a truck. The slower, oozing riffs of “Rusted Madness Tethering Misbegotten Haruspices” and “Winged Ouroboros Mutating Unto Gold” have a real viscosity to them that always reminds me of the stoner doom stylings of Conan. This album is definitely a lot, but it’s an extremely satisfying listen. The fretless imprecision paired with the music’s intensity, the delightfully disgusting guitar tone, and the vocalist’s tectonic gurgles all give Oracular Hexations a ritualistic atmosphere so thick you can practically sink into it. There’s plenty one could say about the musicianship—the drummer deserves praise for his diverse, technical performance—but trying to dial in on any one ingredient is like trying to appreciate the subtle flavor undertones of sheep stomach in a plate of haggis. Just cram the whole thing in at once, man, because this is the kind of sensory brutalization that you’ve gotta just let happen to you.

Iceberg’s Singular Surfacing

Venomous Echoes // Split Formations and Infinite Mania [April 05, 2024 – I, Voidhanger Records]

Extreme metal’s penchant for horror and destruction never ceases to amaze me. It doesn’t matter how I came across Venomous Echoes second album Split Formations and Infinite Mania, one look at that album cover and the curtain rise of squelching music within had me transfixed. Brutal Floridian death metal meets the dissonant disintegration of Portal meets the crushing weight of funeral doom and they all come together in the unrated cut of a Cronenberg flick. One-man-band Benjamin Vanweelden takes the listener inside his own personal hell as he wrestles with body dysmorphia, making for an experience not unlike recent cuts by An Isolated Mind or The Reticent. This is challenging, highly uncomfortable music, abandoning pitch and rhythm at will, bending and twisting notes and smothering the listener with oppressive atmosphere. From the sickening stomping sound effects of opener “Ocular Maltosis ov Schizophrenia” to the ultra-dissonant ostinato and DSBM wailing of closer “Split Formations and Infinite Mania,” this album is the definition of the car crash you can’t look away from. Far outside any zone of comfort is exactly where Vanweelden wants his listeners, and I have to say this makes for a sickly impressive, revolting, yet mesmerizing experience.