Whilst there is no shortage of concept albums around right now dealing with the extinction of mankind due to viral and ecological effects this split EP sees two bands joining together and going right back in time to approximately 251.9 million years when the earth suffered a major catastrophe wiping out many existing forms of life. No doubt you are familiar with this and can easily look it up for more detail on just how badly it effected planet earth along with the various theories that led to it. It’s fascinating subject matter for sure but it is the music of the 2 artists that is really the case in hand here.

Firstly, we have Italian act Thecodontion who seem to have handled this subject matter throughout their short career with EP’s such as Jurassic and last year’s Supercontinent album. Primarily built around the core duo of G.E.F. vocals and G.D. bass, they are joined here by drummer V.P. and Icelander Skaðvaldur who provides vocals on the first track. They explore “two creatures which lived after that catastrophic occurrence.” You can copy and paste the track titles into an image search engine to find out exactly what these familiar dinosaurs look like. Thecodontosaurus Antiquus musically stomps around its domain with heavy bass and rumbling drum rolls, we get some mournful weeping guitar tones and some gruff and suitably caveman like vocals sounding like they are spat out by a troglodyte on the hunt of said beast (yes, we are aware the two species did not actually co-exist). I guess if we could tell what the lyrics were, it would all make a bit more sense but here we have to use imagination and bounce around to the rugged thumping the track delivers. The Procompsognathus triassicus looks a lot more agile and faster moving to me, still a rampant herd of them are going to sound a lot like the charging drum patters that coat the music around the singer’s rasps. It is again the melodies here that stridently solo around the more primitive backbone of the track that transfix and really catch the attention and make it more than just what could be described as a death metal bish-bash-bosh exercise. I know our last review found a whole album a struggle but as far as just over 12-minutes are concerned I enjoyed this material.

Vessel Of Iniquity just have the one longer track on their side and keep things a bit simpler entitling it ‘The Great Dying’ which is a lot easier to handle than the release title which essentially it is. S.P. White from Oxford UK is the man behind this and also one of The Nulll Collective. This is much more savage. Antediluvian are mentioned by the label and if you recently survived their latest you will have an idea of what to expect. The speed is so lethal it is like a blur of white noise and in the background are savage screams. You can almost feel the earth being torn apart as volcanoes explode, meteorites hit and all manner of catastrophic carnage unfolds. Can I hear demons blowing trumpets faintly on this welter of noise, possibly? The layers are so thick it’s hard to tell but then suddenly it all drops off for a long period of ambience, after all this planet has a lot of healing to do. Eventually it doomily rumbles back into life and gives the track its distinct 3rd facet all of them equally hypnotic (and yes, I am hearing brass) till eventual tumultuous extinction.

I really wasn’t sure about this at first and not sure about the music standing quite on its own. But when combined with the concept it really unfolds and becomes quite fascinating stuff. I’m almost tempted to put it on headphones and take a trek down to the Natural History Museum and give it a spin whilst wandering around the prehistoric exhibits.

(7/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/thecodontion

https://www.facebook.com/Vessel-of-Iniquity-306200196576491

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-permian-triassic-extinction-event