2023 has been a busy year for this US brutal slam outfit with two EPs released earlier this year as the band concludes their year with this second full length that does not contain any songs from the said two EPs. In fact the band has been prolific considering they also had three releases out in 2022 as well. Like a lot of slam bands the members reside in other projects though they are unfamiliar to me when I did some research with the majority being within the death metal sphere. Those of us into death metal will most certainly appreciate or have come across the slam death sub-genre which whilst simplistic at its core with insanely dense riffing and tracks containing a minimal of riffs, it has also spawned a number of bands that have taken the style further and incorporated a more technical stance. I’m thinking of bands like Analepsy, Kraanium, Korpse and Necroticgorebeast which isn’t to say those bands lean towards tech death bands act such as Archspire or Obscura, most certainly not but those aforementioned acts have something extra that a lot of slam falters at and Kryptoxik Mortality can be added to that bunch with ease.

Spinning through the bands back catalogue it is clear that this four piece has centralised their riffing on unleashing some of the heaviest chest imploding riffage you can possibly imagine but saturated in musicality and dexterity. Comatose Music are masters at finding top quality bands like this and you’ve only to run through their roster, as I do with quite a few labels, to realise that. I sometimes wonder if bands like KM scour through dictionaries looking for the most insane word combinations possible, a facet started by Carcass back on their ‘Reek Of Putrefaction’ days I should add. With an opening eerie film score like intro piece the album kicks off with ‘Outer Dimensional Gateway’ and thrusts the listener into a cauldron of viscous riffing and penetrating drum work. The opener virtually listens like an elongated intro with only a low mix spoken vocal line being inserted and is an excellent tune that I think would be brilliant to open their sets with in future if they don’t do so already that is. ‘Fetid Human Incubation’ follows and it is straight into a full scale hypnotic assault with metronomic snare work enhancing the songs onslaught as the vocals have that inhuman guttural tone you’d expect in this style.

The songs follow very similar styles throughout as ‘Impending Monolithic Desolation’ uses a grisly opening riff matched by the grisly deep vocals and cavernous drum work that makes this album that much heavier. Technically the band likes to add in plenty of guitar runs but also weave into the mix tons of tempo deviations particularly when they want to escalate the density by bombarding the listener with double bass. There are few songs here that didn’t at least make me think that’s a cool riff or that’s a beastly section and I can only imagine the carnage at their live shows when they play this material especially when you get the colossal clam insert in ‘Ingesting The Wretched’. The use of slam riffing is always going to be a feature of KM’s music but instead of completely relying on it with directionless monotonic riffing the band fuses everything with dynamics to keep it urgent as ‘Extraterrestrial Desecration’ shows alongside ‘Metaphysical Dissection’. The latter is monstrously heavy, the intermittent speed insertions capitalise on the deluge of riffs as noticeably this album isn’t fast in the way that some slam outfits are. Relying on massive riff opacity with slower tempos enables the album to be catchier and dare I say it more melodic as the title track shows. With hammers aloft you can stomp around to ‘Multiverse Enigmatic Deformities’ which is potentially the heaviest tune on the release especially with the constant double kick as the album ends with the very short ‘Fractured Molecule Deconstruction’ which stands apart primarily due to its quirky little guitar hook that has been added.

Like many bands of this ilk the cover art is something to behold and study, being of the usual hideous variety replete with stomach turning colour palettes and a grotesquery that this genre requires if only to have it printed on a shirt which I would definitely buy. In fact the cover has been on my phone screen as the background image for a little while. Suffice to say those of you into slam will have no problem wanting to get hold of this and those of you wanting some catchy bludgeoning death metal should check it out too.

(8.5/10 Martin Harris)

https://www.facebook.com/kryptoxikmortality

https://comatosemusic.bandcamp.com/album/interdimensional-calamitous-extirpation