DISSOpearing Act
You thought I was done? That my pun abilities are limited to a puny two posts? Ye of little faith shall now be punished harshly. I, acting as judge, jury, and executioner, sentence thee to more harrowing displays of musical grotesqueries guaranteed to make you squirm and headbang simultaneously. No time served for previous allocations of your day spent listening to my terrible recommendations. Now begins your new sentence.
Sacrificial Vein – Black Terror Genesis (March 15)
Oh Total Dissonance Worship, you beautifully deranged label. In case you missed my initial article, TDW is already having an absolutely stellar year and Sacrificial Vein emerges as yet another standout release from them. Black Terror Genesis bring a more atmospheric and at times almost industrial feel to their terrifying soundscapes. An impressive and cohesive debut by this duo from Minnesota, they sport a talent for both noisy interludes and pummeling passages. Think if Blut Aus Nord released their most pissed off album possible, then you will have a good grasp of what is presented here.
Where many dissonant-leaning acts tend to focus on constant shifting throughout a song’s runtime, here we see an idea repeated within a track and expanded upon by adding flourishes to maintain your attention while also keeping the soundscape a harrowing one. A great example is the unsettling doomy outro of the first track, “The Blood of the Wicked Shall Entomb the Earth” which lures you into a false sense of calmness as it transitions into a burst of shrieks and blastbeats on the following song “Throne of Perversion”. The vocal performance is also a massive contributing factor to the experience as it switches between standard mid-range howls, raspy shrieks, and even Rainer Landfermann—style insanity. Even the short melodic tapping sections of tracks like “Cruciatum Aeternum” and “The Unbearable Stench of Malediction” help keep you enthralled with their catchiness that breaks through the harshness. Lastly, this costs a cool zero dollars on Bandcamp, so stop listening to my ramblings and check out this beast already.
Ethereal Wound – Eclipse | Advent (March 20)
Listen up weebs, because this one goes out to you. Ethereal Wound is a duo out of Evora, Portugal and they have released a titanic slab of blackened death metal that is eager to crush your head (along with those cat ears you are definitely wearing while reading this). Eclipse | Advent is 4 tracks based on the late Kentaro Miura’s popular manga series Berserk. Fret not if you are unfamiliar with the source material, as the music is more than enough to stand on its own merits. If disso could be meat and potatoes, this is it in spades. Unrelenting aggression with enough putrid atmospheric guitar overlays to invoke the imagery of everything being taken away from you in horrific fashion. It may take some Guts (see what I did there) to fully dive into this and not succumb to a sore neck from headbanging that oversized cranium of yours.
Just put on the third track “Sacrificed” and check out the blasting intro as is quickly transitions into something slightly more haunting with guitar wails and a barking vocal delivery, courtesy of Sergio Ramos, that encapsulates the dark source material incredibly. This attack continues until the 2:15 mark where the mournful guitar work begins to take over, laying the dark feels upon the listener, but then deftly transitions back to the oppressive speed to break you out of the cycle of suffering. It’s these constant switches in tempo and riff changes that make this fly by despite being bombarded with near non-stop punishment. Is this a one-off release from this group or is there more to come? I am unaware of the answer, but this is definitely not one to miss. Now go weeb out to your heart’s desire.
Aberration – Refracture (March 22)
The twisted minds behind Sentient Ruin Laboratories seem to always have a new group up their sleeves to garner my interest several times each year. The first for this year is the debut LP from Minnesota blackened death/doomers Aberration. Refracture is the perfect pairing between something like Incantation and Portal, where trudging through sonic grime is the reward offered to the listener. Heavy atmospherics paired with punishing blasts and uncomfortable guitar passages are to be expected when your band consists of members from Suffering Hour and Nothingness. What this album lacks in bells and whistles, it more than makes up for in its suffocating heaviness. Just like the figure on the album cover, the tracks here aim to pierce through you and never lets you escape to a place of comfort.
If one could feel claustrophobia in an empty abyss, they would likely be listening to Refracture. In a year already containing an impressive release schedule of stellar death/doom from acts like Slimelord, Apparition, and Hamferð, Aberration have made sure they are not to be overlooked by releasing perhaps the most uncomfortable piece of the bunch. The haunting ringing of the guitars in “Interstitial Enmity” at the 1:05 mark is a perfect example of how heaviness is not defined by overwhelming the listener with a barrage of noise, but rather allowing the sounds to ring out invoking the harrowing dread instilled within us all. Methodical in its execution, this is one that crawls its way slowly up your body to overtake you and your senses, and I am all the happier for it.
