The title sounds about right. I expected nothing but creative interpretations of extreme metal weirdness from former Ephel Duathers Davide Tiso and Luciano Lorusso George, who comprise half of this band. It was no surprise to read the promoter’s description of this album as “a punishing descent into human psychosis”. I braced myself.
Intense, relentless, extreme … it’s much as expected. “You stole my paradise” roars Luciano on “Compulsive Delusion”. No prisoners are taken here. As the music plunges downwards there is a disturbing vocal line. This is heavy. Basically this album is a set of 15 cameos, with all the intensity and trauma packed tightly into three minutes or so of metal action. The hangman-guitar riff that we know from Ephel Duath is there. Layers of pungent and relentless darkness are superimposed on “False Memory”, as Luciano continues to roar. Whilst dark, sinister, deathly and everything else in that vein you can think of, it’s musically coherent so the sensation is there of being taken on a journey. Each piece is a blast. “Messianic Alteration” starts in a more doomy, funereal tone. The choir of doom preaches its message briefly as heaviness descends and figurative walls collapse. It ends suddenly as many do. The damage has been described and is done, I guess.
The distorted weightiness of “Inner Voice” suggests psychological damage, this clearly being a direction this album takes. “Overlord” is an imposing, doom-like slab, never losing its grip but tightening it with fearsome control and intensity. “Not In Control” follows. It’s mayhem for sure and the fury flies in all direction but instrumentally this is tight even with the thunder coming from all angles. “Heal me, save me” cries a lone, vulnerable voice amid the next metal maelstrom “Cranioscopy”. Not much chance of that here. The twisted riff of “Vindication” provides the backdrop to more in-your-face, psychologically tinged aggression. “Self Harm Scars” then turns the screw, mixing distortion with more hammering and relentless heaviness. We return to funereal progress with “Misericordia”. “What will you do on the day of reckoning?” enquires the chillingly dark and ominous chant. It’s cold out there as the music builds up a head of steam before ending bleakly. You wouldn’t expect “Sun” on this most morbid of albums, but have no fear – there’s less than two minutes of it and it’s like a funeral march with industrial sound distortions. This is made of fear. The closing piece “Affliction and Relief” has a similar ambience. Sombrely it goes forward while Luciano growls out what sound like the last rites.
“Borders of Mania” gets its point across well. It is psychologically disturbed, extreme and without hope. You could say it’s stifling. Whilst these mostly short pieces are of a similar ilk, battering us into submission and resignation through the sheer force and noise, the structure, progressions and layers are expertly weaved by top class extreme metal musicians.
(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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