If there was ever a time I could put the label of “abrasive” on an album, it would have to be for the debut full-length from Disimperium, Grand Insurgence Upon Despotic Altars (Sentient Ruin Laboratories). Take the mystical and obscure portions of black metal, lay them upon the bones of death metal, and crank up the intensity with grindcore and this makes up the uneasy feeling in your gut as you listen to the Oakland natives. Nine tracks at around half an hour is all you need to feel like you got hit by a truck filled with speakers turned up to eleven.

From the jump of Grand Insurgence Upon Despotic Altars, “Fortress of Sulfuric Ritual” opens with feedback to set the level of uncomfortability before opening up with blast beats, machine-gunning guitar riffs, and grimy growled vocals. This song hardly takes a breather for its two-minute and forty-five-second assault. 

“Blade Obfuscation” is another mind-bending trip through the very depths of Hell. There are a few more guitar leads on this track as well to break up the monotony of the ever-present audio wall of pain and agony. “Sepulchral Mind Prison” dabbles into the death-doom side of things in the intro with tremolo picking with slow drum rhythms. 

However, the Disimperium flavor of grindcore pushes right to the forefront and tears you back down after a moment of security and protection. Disimperium set the bar high for themselves and other extreme genres of metal with this first record release. Grand Insurgency Upon Despotic Altars will be remembered as an album that ventured across genre lines on differing ends of the spectrum of heavy music to create a new level of abrasive music. 

This album will make you feel uneasy, uncertain, and uncomfortable, which is exactly what I was hoping for and many others will be as well.

Buy the album here:

https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/grand-insurgence-upon-despotic-altars

7 / 10

TIM LEDIN