Just when you think blackened death metal cannot become more hideous, more horrifying along comes this disturbing Australian act hailing from Melbourne. I took the time to listen to their debut, ‘Entheognosis’’ before plunging into the murky world of their sophomore. Said debut, released in 2016, is a four track monstrosity spanning 60 minutes where you are subjected to songs saturated in cavernous morbidity and a reeking of distraught terror. However there are plenty of acts in this subgenre this could apply to but what Plasmodium offer beyond their sonic destruction is embedding their songs with an experimental and psychedelic touch that has continued into their second release.

Everything about ‘Towers Of Silence’ is about contrasts and extremity, even the wildly differing song durations are extreme veering from short sub four minute explosions to double digit annihilating mammoths. The first two tracks are the short frenetic openers starting with ‘Paramantra’ as the track lurches at the listener with bombarding speed set against a barrier of outright noise. There is a fine line here between a song that bestrides melody and unmitigated noise, but these six band members balance it extremely well. All the band members have decided not to reveal who plays what instrument except Demoninacht who is the drummer and plays in multiple acts. The war like ethos intrinsic to Plasmodium continues into ‘Churning’ where brutalising riffs and soul destroying inhumanity pervades unleashing chaotic bursts that suggest a guttural grind like influence.

As the song durations increase so does the experimentalism as ‘Pseudocidal’ starts with background feral animal noises and a distinct creepy aura that seeps out of the song initially. The enveloping density is asphyxiating, adhering a sense of suffocating horror to the songs nihilistic affront. As I’ve mentioned this band offers stark experimentalism as the song unveils a psychedelic terror where noises and discordant guitar work scrape at the listener amplifying the intensity.

‘Translucinophobia’ is an eighteen minute plus behemoth, opening with piercing guitar work and a relentless offensive that showers the song with inexorable hostility, as the harsh vocals reinforce the bands sheer enmity. Dropping into a psychedelic phase the song unfurls electronic distortion before the detonating resurgence. Here the songs blackened credentials are there for all to witness as the song is wholly battering here. The scraping and squealing guitar work punctures with acidity, diverting into frenzied insane and terrifying outpourings as every second is afflicted with a disconcerting and menacing ethos.

Closing this disquieting release is ‘Vertexginous’ where the band continues their unremitting assault with a song that seems to have randomised percussive elements, but of course everything is planned. The dementedness is ramped up here as the bands hallucinatory hideousness is palpable where what sounds like electronically processed vocals add their own level of disturbance. With fractured arrangements the song sits uncomfortably when you listen to it, writhing and squirming in its psychedelic psychosis. Utilising constantly morphing time signatures ensures the song retains an urgency with its unnerving intensity and frictional musicality that carries the song to its conclusion.

Some bands are very difficult to listen to and then there’s Plasmodium, their unsettling disorientating compositional style is not meant for a casual listen, you are meant to immerse yourself in their miasmic world, surrender to their trippy terror and shackle yourself to their hypnotising and transfixing sonic torture.

(9/10 Martin Harris)

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https://plasmodiumdeath.bandcamp.com/album/towers-of-silence-cosmic-black-death-metal