DEFORMATORY ~ Inversion Of The Unseen Horizon (2021)

Frenzied technicality and bulldozing brutality that couldn't have gelled any better if the tracks had been assimilated by the Borg. 'Inversion Of The Unseen Horizon' sounds like it's been lifted straight from the final scene of a slasher movie only this time the baddie wins. Every track is  relentless, a rabid assault weighed down by a growling vocal delivery that meshes seamlessly with the voracious myriad  tempo changes, shifting from complex Morbid Angel like structures to punishing Suffocation barbarity and I can't think of too many bands that have done this as successfully as Deformatory.

FFO Cryptopsy, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Origin, Hate Eternal

HEADSHRINKER ~ Callous Indifference (2021)

 If you think that an album featuring Pete Webber ( Havok ) is going to sound like any other thrash band, think again. 'Callous Indifference' is a death metal Frankenstein, all of the bleakest aspects of the genre have been sewn together into a schizophrenic tapestry of mental torment. Over the years I've read hundreds of interviews by bands, describing their latest opus as a statement reflecting the current psychogenic ill health of various band members at that time. With 'Callous Indifference' Headshrinker drags you into the inner chambers of the mind, force feeding you the anguish within. It's a harrowing listen but a captivating one all the same. I found myself trying to pick out as many examples of the death metal genre as I could, and there are many, however, rather than a chaotic mess 'Callous Indifference' actually works. There aren't many bands that can successfully blend grind with brutal tech riffs and throw in the odd doom passage ( Triptykon ) but Headshrinker does. 

Guaranteed to wipe the smile from your face!

WITCHANGER ~ Witchanger (2021)

 Heavy, heavy Finnish doom with THAT guitar sound I love so much. Fathomless riffs that spit and growl as they bring you to your knees. A leviathan seance invoking gargantuan sounds, the vacuum crushes your chest driving splinters of bone through your heart. The guitar tone  is so immense it has it's own moon! 

It's going to take something really special to top this as my August album of the month

BORBOROPSIS ~ Decorticated Burial Of Delirium (2021)

Released earlier this year by the band and now exhumed by Solitude Productions, Decorticated Burial Of Delirium is a harrowing example of how to mould death, doom and funeral doom into a congealed morass of tormented anguish and unbearable agony. Sounding like the offspring of a hellish triumvirate of dISEMBOWELMENT, Dusk and Worship, there is a choking atmosphere of foul odour and poisonous foreboding, where only the condemned and the damned can enter the gate to the final track Decortication/Delirium and pass beyond, head bowed, shoulders slumped, all joy and hope abandoned.

CONSUMPTION ~ Recursive Definitions of Suppuration (2021)

 

Any band that includes Håkan Stuvemark ( Wombbath) is going to have a particularly gruesome edge to it and Swedish duo Consumption doesn't disappoint. 

'Recursive Definitions of Suppuration' the band's debut, now available in 180 gram vinyl format, is a blood spatter analysis of the carnage left behind by the likes of Carcass and Autopsy. The sound isn't as murky which means the bloodletting caused by the eleven tracks of macabre sounding deathgrind on the album are more indiscriminate in their butchery of the ears. I'm not sure if Håkan Stuvemark is solely responsible for the vocal delivery here, if he is then many demons must inhabit his body because they are pretty varied, none pleasant, but not too extreme either, while the manic drumming of Jon Skäre gives depth to the grind, elevating it to death metal intensity and depth.

This is the soundtrack to your own post - mortem.

https://hammerheartstore.com/collections/vendors?q=Consumption

https://napalmrecords.com/english/consumption

https://www.napalmrecordsamerica.com/search/?q=consumption

WITHOUT GOD ~ Siberian Tunes: The Green Light (E.P) 2021

 I'm in the fortunate position where I receive lots of promotional  material. Some are really nice surprises, others tend to be put on the back burner as they just don't suit the kind of music I feature on the Podcast. There are a few however that make the heart skip when you see the name of the band featured in the promo. The email I received featuring a new release from Without God made me break out into a sweat. I've followed these Russian guys for years and eagerly snapped up every album and EP they've produced and never been disappointed by any of them. 

So, is 'Siberian Tunes: The Green Light' any different? That's a big no! It's excellent as always. Four tracks of psych tinged stoner doom, slightly more polished than what has gone before but no less heavy. Copious amounts of sludge is still apparent, however the added metallic crunch to the riffs add a potency that manages to tarnish the extra polish which is further scarred by the excellent, slightly acidic lead work that manifests itself throughout this album. One of the aspects of Russian metal I've noticed over the years is the propensity for the vocal delivery to be on the harsh side but this isn't the case with Without God, instead, vocals on 'Siberian Tunes: The Green Light' gel perfectly with the stoner undertones of this E.P.

Did I say EP? Damn, I want a full length to satisfy my craving for more music from Without God.

CRYPT MONARCH ~ The Necronaut (Album of the Month July 2021)

Trying to work out an 'Album of the Month' is pretty difficult especially when you listen to so much and embrace so many different styles and genres. This month has been slightly different though. In spite of all the excellent albums that July has birthed, 'The Necronaut' by Costa Ricans Crypt Monarch has hoisted its immense bulk head and shoulders above the rest. It's the guitar tone that's done it for me, moist and saturated in so much fuzz that if you could squeeze each track, gelatinous riffs would drip through your fingers. I like my doom in all its various forms and there is a surprising amount of diversity out there but if I could become Frankenstein for a day and mould together various bloated doom body parts, it would evolve into the corpulent stoner doom entity that Crypt Monarch has become.

As you would expect, 'The Necronaut' isn't a rollercoaster ride, instead, saddle up this Jurassic monolith and let the droning momentum take you where it will.