Death Metal power trio, Shroud Of The Heretic from Portland, Oregon return with their chaotic astral and bestial musical assault for their second full length release “Unorthodox Equilibrium”. With themes and inspiration drawn from Nature, Mysticism, Forbidden Gnosticism, Alchemy, Astralism and Metaphysics, this arcane dose of metal promises to be intriguing to those with a mind open enough to absorb it.
“Unorthodox Equilibrium” opens the album. It’s got a very atmospheric start using some sinister sounding samples before the raw, harsh, jarring distorted guitars explode to life. With a steadily punctuated drum pattern and atonal guitars, it is a powerful assault on the senses. It has a real black metal feel to it akin to early Emperor and Mayhem with the noise levels and the sinister, harsh growled vocals which could be mistaken for a demon from a horror film really does add to the intense setting the music creates. Shifting from rapid to slow, the crushing heaviness still remains along with the general sense of dread and unease and even when it goes clean for a minute or so, the sinister undercurrent, augmented by the unsettling samples keeps the intensity up. When it explodes back to life, it has a real kick to it. The harsh intense feel from the heavier sections of the song returns and it ends really strong!
“Metempsychosis” opens with a harsh jarring distorted guitar chord before descending into a slow building clean passage. This clean passage really builds a foreboding sense of anticipation and when the distorted variant of the clean line comes in, it gets a lot heavier. The periodic drums become more regular and the crushing heaviness returns with a vengeance. With an almost drone like nature, the track teases at breaking out of this controlled heaviness but it doesn’t quite do it yet. Harsh vocals, heavier emphasised guitars and more intricate drum patterns signal the verse and it slows slightly, giving it a real evil sound and grim as fuck feeling. When it does speed up, it gets frantic. Despite being simplistic in structure, lacking any real complex arrangements, there is a huge sense of less is more on this track, especially with the atmosphere. Round the 5 minute mark, the song has its first real melodic section, featuring an evil sounding slow guitar lead which comes off as really dramatic before the slight reprieve from the hellish distorted sounds. This slight clean passage doesn’t last long as it comes back with a real crushing breakdown which transitions into a grim sounding bestial black metal groove which grows in intensity as the track finally ends.
“Sprawling Black Mass Consumation” has a bit more pace to it but it’s still crushingly heavy and evil. Powerful chords and wailing pinch harmonics litter the intro under the harsh growled vocals and when it kicks in, it gets a lot faster. A full on death metal assault of powerful drums, evil guitars, thunderous bass and dramatic intensity explodes to life and its one of the first real moments where you could really headbang along to on the album. In parts, it almost sounds like Entombed on steroids playing one of Mayhem’s faster numbers. Half way through the track it slows down and cleans up a little with a host of sinister swirling samples, erratic drum fills and some ominous sounding leads which creates a sense of unease before it kicks back to life at the six minute mark with some real harsh and atonal sounding guitars and a great sounding simplistic lead. These elements, the sound, the composition and the atmosphere all come together to form the perfect storm of evil death metal, giving the right balance of crushing heaviness and intensity which does enough to leave you feeling hopeless, but not enough to actually kill you off. It is a great track!
“Omega Aperion” opens with some howling wind sounds and almost drone like synth samples with mechanical sounds underneath them. This creates a real sense of anticipation, like in a horror film where you know something is coming, you just don’t know what it is, or when it will find you. The harsh and heavy guitar and bass, accompanied by a steady and precise drum pattern with the subtle synths backing it all up really emphasises the uneasy feel. When the vocals finally come in, the hellish growls give a real sinister and evil feeling, keeping that theme which has ran for the duration of the album and unlike the pervious track, this one is pretty atmospheric which makes it great material for an album closer. Going from slow and heavy to intense and groove driven, the song continues to crush all in its wake as it pounds along before it cleans up towards the end with an ominous sounding guitar line which then gets distorted. This distorted variant of the ominously clean line ups the intensity one last time. Retaining the steady, crushing sound, the track eventually descends into sinister sounding synths and samples like those in the tracks intro before it finally comes to an end.
“Unorthodox Equilibrium” is a real intense, atmospheric and heavy album. Relentless, Crushing, Evil, it’s tough to listen to initially if this style of death metal is not your usual go to, but once you get past that and actually get a feel for it, it is a really captivating release. The atmospheric work is incredible and it does have a real impact on your senses as you listen to it, something a lot of bands who try to do this type of music often struggle with. Morbid and mesmerizing, this is an album which will engulf you should you dare to listen.
(8/10 Fraggle)
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