Sometimes all that’s needed on a rough day is some crusty Death Metal. Luck would have it that Crawl has dropped their sophomore full-length, Altar of Disgust (Transcending Obscurity Records), and it is a journey, to say the least. Ten songs (eleven counting an intro) at just over thirty minutes is the perfect portion size for such an aggressive and abrasive collection of songs. These Swedish death metallers have one goal in mind: to crush you under the weight of their riffs and breakdowns.
Early standout tracks like “Throne of Molten Bones” and “Ethereal Depths” bring the HM-2 pedal powered riffs and speed that one would expect from a Swedish death metal band. However, they do bring in some solid changes with breakdowns and groovy sections to give your neck a rest.
The middle of the album might be the most memorable portion of the album starting from the intro track, “Where No Light Escapes,” a harsh noise and sample-laden track to keep you feeling uneasy. “Enslaved in Filth” kicks right off with tons of switches between blast beats and d-beat drumming. About halfway in, a groovy section hits that leads into a devastating breakdown to close out the track. “Vision of Burning Apparitions” closes out this section with a sudden switch to a more black and roll feeling riff and drumming for the first minute. The closing bit of the song digs a bit deeper into the black metal side.
“Until They Crawl” is the beginning of the end of Altar of Disgust and it is massive. The Hardcore Punk side of Crawl really shines forward in this track. There is a slight build up to a big breakdown in the second half of the song that will generate a ton of spin kicks for sure. Just to pour it on more, “Into Sordid Rifts” is a straight up black metal song with tons of tremolo-picking guitar riffs both in the beginning of the song and the outro. The death metal bits do trickle through a bit as a reminder of what these Swedish gentlemen are all about.
I honestly did not find much I did not like about Altar of Disgust. Every track serves a purpose and there’s enough difference between the tracks that everything is fresh. Even the intro track in the middle of the album actually makes sense as it bleeds into two tracks that sound like they were recorded in one take, seemingly for a reason like it is one giant story. Crawl is certainly a new name for me, but it will not be forgotten.
Buy the record here:
https://crawldeath.bandcamp.com/album/altar-of-disgust
9 / 10
TIM LEDIN