It’s like going back in time. After a few seconds of outright warfare, total unabated breakneck black metal carnage ensues. The sound quality is rotten and dirty. The vocalist hisses down a tube, or it seems like it. The riff is violent and nasty. The drummer is having a good old workout. Even the track – I hesitate to call it a song – “Intolerance Enthrone” has one of those old style titles. So onto “Putrescence Infected”. On we blast and scream for a couple of minutes. These guys from the frosty plains of Edmonton Alberta, among them a guitarist from Operation Winter Mist who I used to like, and fellow warmongers from The Projectionist and Thy Sepulchral Moon amongst others, assault us with their rancid brand of violent anarchy.
It’s all about the raw violence and horror, really. As instrumentalists batter and shred, and spill blood generally, others vomit in the name of vomit. But I found depth in “The Crone”. I wasn’t looking that hard as the underlying bass rumbles beneath the fire and chaos. I imagine this would be fun in a live setting. It’s pretty invigorating in recoded form. “Body Coffin Betrayal” is punky, grindy, deathly and energetic anarchy. As the band belts it out, the sound is that of bodies at the bottom of a pit. The title track starts doomily, with the vomiting vocalist emulating serpents rising from a cage. The energy level cranks up and there is a random, remorseless guitar solo. After threatening to break into a pattern on “Body Coffin Betrayal”, it now does so by solemnly belting out the last rites. It’s then back to the breakneck carnage of “Sawed Strings and The Fall of a Marionette”. Comparisons may be made with the likes of Blasphemy in particular and Archgoat. Get your spittoons at the ready please as “Angry Spit of the Witch’s Piss” is launched upon us. Unbridled anger and violence – what’s not to like, here? Again there’s a rumbling riff line to add that bit of subtlety (?) to all the raw sewage that’s being unloaded on top of us. The energy is irresistible. “Worse Still The Fog of Man Settles” is the next ominous title. It’s as if people are being mercilessly slayed. A death metal riff sneaks into this mass of noise and lacerated bodies. One last death metal inspired growly fury fest later, and we’re done.
Delightful. This impressive album is the embodiment of chaos and disorder. Have these Canadians heard of Brexit?
(8.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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