Decades pass without incident, and we dare to hope that the door is closed forever… but hope is a coin that buys only disappointment.  Richard Benton returns once more from the lands beyond, six new horrors fast at his heels.

 

Faithxtractor by any other name… would be a lot easier to take seriously, honestly.  Fortunately for them, the music on Contempt For A Failed Dimension (Redefining Darkness) hits hard enough that we can forgive them a silly name.  This is classic, take-no-prisoners American Death Metal built around huge riffs, punishing blasts, and cavernous low-end vocals.  Faithxtractor draw from the abyssal weight of the Disso-Death trend without losing any of their riffing or song-writing chops, leading to an album of oppressively heavy but also catchy tracks.

 

Buy the album here: https://faithxtractor.bandcamp.com/album/contempt-for-a-failed-dimension

 

Maze Of Sothoth, on the other hand, couldn’t have picked a better name if they tried.  Twisting, disorienting, filled with unspeakable horrors, Extirpated Light (Everlasting Spew) crashes classic-era Morbid Angel’s tour bus into an Incantation gig, hurling grisly chunks of pure American Death Metal (via Italy) for miles.  Maze Of Sothoth are the kind of band who don’t bring anything new to their genre at all, but instead, play it with such conviction and fervor that they validate themselves.

 

 

Buy the album here: https://mazeofsothoth.bandcamp.com/album/extirpated-light

 

Does Mories have a job?  I suppose he must – I can’t imagine the Belgian government pay him to record endless Metal albums under a different name – but it’s hard to understand how he has the time.  With Cadaver Shrine – his latest offering prior to the twenty-five he’s probably put out in the time it takes to write this – steps away from the Black Metal and Noise he made his name with to fully embrace cavernous Death Doom.  Benighted Desecration (Chaos) is a forty-minute trudge through gruelling, claustrophobic horror, Mories’ sewer-level growls rumbling deeper than the bass.

 

Buy the album here: https://chaos-records.bandcamp.com/album/benighted-desecration

 

The greatest tragedy of Death Metal is when a band fail to live up to their artwork. Congratulations, then, go to Astriferous, as the music on Pulsations From The Black Orb (Me Saco Un Ojo) perfectly captures the howling maelstrom of inhuman creatures on the front. After a dishonestly calm intro, ‘Blinding The Seven Eyes Of God’ opens the gates of horror, and they don’t shut again until the thirty-minute run time is past. Incantation comparisons are obvious – and not without merit, especially when they slow down to a doomier pace – but Astriferous’ subtle use of dissonance and churning maelstrom approach to songwriting elevate them beyond mere copycats.

 

Buy the album here: https://mesacounojo.bandcamp.com/album/pulsations-from-the-black-orb

 

The second album by Minneapolis head smashers Nothingness, Supraliminal (Everlasting Spew) has already been covered by Ghost Cult scribe Tim Ledin, but no one plays with my toys, damn it.  Like Astriferous, Nothingness does an impressive job of capturing the cover art – there’s something unclean about Supraliminal, the drum patterns seeming to decay across tracks, the thick bass leaving dirty smears behind it.  If this makes it sound one-note, there’s a surprising variety of tone and pace throughout Supraliminal, the band not afraid to give their tracks room to breathe without ever losing the aura of pestilence they generate.

 

Buy the album here: https://everlastingspewrecords.bandcamp.com/album/supraliminal

 

Finally, a devout member of the church of Weirdo Space DM, Tentacult drag the listener into a skronky, angular black hole on Lacerating Pattern (Transylvanian Tapes).  It’s impossible to not compare Tentacult to Timeghoul with their higher-pitched vocals and jagged, labyrinthine music, but they play with pacing more effectively, slowing down on tracks like ‘Obsidian Blade’ to explore the atmospheric potential of this style.  With a rough-and-ready sound and charmingly minimalist artwork, Lacerating Pattern has the vibe of a classic demo exhumed from the past, but promises even more in the future.

 

Buy the album here: https://transylvaniantapes.bandcamp.com/album/tentacult-lacerating-pattern

 

RICHARD BENTON