2019 Metal ’n’ Heavy Rock/Heavy Music Poll: RESULTS - Top 100 Countdown

This band's name confuses me

Didn't vote for it but this one's underrated, much like older Gaahl side gig Trelldom.

I assume it means something like Gaahl's Fate (cognate with 'weird')?

Gaahl's Wyrd: a band named after himself, in the tradition of Rod Torfulson's Armada Featuring Herman Menderchuk.

I do not know 'Gorgoroth', so have no idea of the context this is coming from, but this lovely seething album was a great addition to last year. Kind of like an occult prog metal Nick Cave. SO glad we are doing this top 120

Gaahl's reputation as a vocalist is fully deserved imo. A shame he's never done a truly phenomenal album, though, including with Gorgoroth.

108 TIE
Multishiva - Savupäivä 85 Points, 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/80BpZBE.jpg
https://multishiva.bandcamp.com/album/savup-iv

www.angrymetaldrugsamoneyguy.com/george

It's the dogs bollocks and you fuckers better check it out

Fuck yes! My #3!

Haven't heard this but I'm convinced after reading that review.

(Not even joking btw.)

I was one of the Devin votes, shocked at the low placement.

sadly won't get to hear any of this shit live as it's the same day as Toxic Holocaust/Soulfly which I had already bought tix for.

Couldn't find a review so Angry Metal George is going to review it here.

Wild chaotic sludge from Finland! First track "Total Fucking Dunkelheit" is like blackened Hawkwind. The next song "Monoliitti on Nyrkki" was top e on my tracks ballot and is literally the worst acid trip ever
A lot of it reminds me of Amon Duul II as well, Michael B said it reminded him of High Rise

*Top 3 tracks

Oh wait I remember commenting on 'Total Fucking Dunkelheit', which is an amazing title. Time to get acquainted with the song that's appended to it.

Yeah this is pretty awesome.

Wow, yes. Love those nightmarishly stretched vocals

107 Venom Prison - Samsara 86 Points, 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/CdXMR1r.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/6b6JTJkCWhpGVIZvw2zPi3

https://venomprison.bandcamp.com/album/samsara

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/venom-prison-samsara-review/

Life is dull and painful. Homeostasis demands a cycle of finding food, eating that food, and shitting what’s left of that food to keep your body running. Your job requires that you do the same tasks over and over to stay employed, and if you don’t it makes the whole “finding food” step much more stressful. The foundations of Maslow’s pyramid are banality and suffering. Sometimes it’s difficult to pinpoint why you go on living if this is the human condition. Other times, a death metal album cuts your junk off and force-feeds it to you to remind you that it, above the karmic cycle, above self-actualization, above the promises of eternal bliss, is the highest power and the reason to clock in on Monday and head to the bathroom.

Though the whole dick-cutting-off thing was Animus’s game, Samsara, the second full length from Venom Prison, is no less violent. The band’s grindy, slammy death metal draws many parallels to Cattle Decaptitation, whether it’s their everything-but-the-kitchen sink approach to riffing, their sudden outbursts of groove, or their vicious takes on social injustice. Samsara has no dull edges, no safe entrances, and a complete lack of regard for your safety. “Implementing the Metaphysics of Morals” careens between melodeath riffs, blackened blasting, slams, and even a Dimebag solo in five minutes. “Dukkha” begins with a 911 call reporting a suicide and only increases in intensity from there. This album just doesn’t give a fuck what you think is going to happen next.

While Samsara’s songs rarely follow an easily digestible structure, the band have an uncanny ability to transition almost imperceptibly between different ideas. “Asura’s Realm” moves between searing leads and Pig Destroyer pit fodder as if the two are different notes in the same phrase. Slam flows straight through Nile riffage into a glistening lead to begin the second verse in “Uterine Industrialization.” Beautiful needles of melodic black metal perforate the brutality of “Sadistic Rituals.” It’s at once scrappy and graceful, and listening along is like watching the camera pan through a crowded environment as Jackie Chan drunken-boxes his way through the goons inhabiting it. Except here, the goons are capitalists, bigots, and misogynists, and Chan’s fists and feet are riffs, blast beats, screams and roars.

Ben Thomas and Ash Gray have to spit out axe-acrobatics at a downright unhealthy rate to keep this momentum flowing, but they’re nearly outmatched by the rest of the band. Mike Jefferies plays a grounded, rumbling bass while Jay Pipprell pummels his kit as if every skin is a fascist’s face. The drumming rolls along with the riffs at a breakneck pace, beating the snare with a special contempt. On top of this insanity, Larissa Stupar puts out a diversity and intensity of roars, screams, growls, and gurgles that few vocalists could hope to match, doling out her vitriol in unhinged explosions. With the quintet’s powers combined, Samsara is a godsend for death metal fans starving for punishment.

You could hardly ask for a more exciting death metal release. Like Unfathomable Ruination, Venom Prison salt their winding structures with enough memorable ideas to hold them together and save their most intense material for just when it’s needed. Aside from a predictably disappointing mastering job, I can hardly find an issue on Samsara. These songs are propulsive, inventive, and constantly exciting, and the album sets the bar high for this year’s tech-death output. It’s albums like this that grant both perspective on and momentary release from the suffering and banality of the human condition, and bands like this that challenge the status quo and change the death metal landscape in subtle but important ways. Think on these higher goals while you eat and shit yourself towards death.

:(. 2 votes? One of my highest

Good vocalist, and I mostly enjoyed my first encounter with the album, but it felt a little superficial afterwards. Then again, I'm not an impartial judge of deathcore.

106 Spirit Adrift - Divided by Darkness 88 Points, 4 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/2nzDfjh.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/2LkBu897BhMBDlYW0NLI4w

https://spiritadrift.bandcamp.com/album/divided-by-darkness

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/spirit-adrift-divided-by-darkness/
8.1

Led by young oracle Nate Garrett, the second album from the Arizona heavy metal band carries the torch of their forebears and revives the genre with impressive songwriting and ambition.

Spirit Adrift is Arizona musician Nate Garrett’s vehicle for metal obsession, burning through thrash, doom, NWOBHM, melodic metal, and anything that’ll throw you out a window if you speak ill of Phil Lynott. He is not here for a nostalgia trip; he’s exploring the power within, approaching a unified theory of metal. Spirit Adrift’s second record, Cursed By Conception, is where he found his voice through forging a shared power in doom and thrash. Now, Divided By Darkness shows he has the vision for the greater pantheon.

Metal shouldn’t be measured like a recipe, but for Spirit Adrift, balance is key. No one element dominates over another: The rhythms are as mean as the solos are joyous as the cleans are beautiful. It’s how a track like “Born Into Fire” splices ripping leads and more Euro-style mournful cleans into something coherent. A thrashy jaunt like “Hear Her” can live right next to the more ambitious “Living Light,” where Garrett gets an assist from Witch Mountain’s Kayla Dixon for some vocal harmonies. Even though these sounds are well-established and defined, Garrett’s songwriting breathes new life into them. Darkness understands metal not as just a mash of distortion sounds, but as a continuous, living tradition that has meaning. He talked about Conception as a return to childhood loves of classic metal, and Darkness turns that pure love into mastery.

Even with Garrett’s expanded palette and a full band behind him, there are still shades of melancholy that have carried over from his early writing. “Tortured By Time” is the most classic doom track here, adding a modern sheen to end-time gloom. “Angel & Abyss,” though, is Darkness’ centerpiece for its reconciliation of Spirit Adrift’s past and future. It’s Metallica’s “Fade to Black” where death isn’t the exit, where it doesn’t end in self-destruction but in lead-centric renewal. Garrett channels young James Hetfield’s hopeless voice for most of the song, and ends with an Ozzy-like maniacal cackle, conquering the despair (or at least living with the madness.) It almost acts as the totality of ’80s metal majesty, a tour of hesher emotions. More than anything else on the album, it captures the me-against-the-world vibe that has informed many a metal classic.

There’s plenty of old school revival bands, yet most of them operate as if metal stopped in 1989. Though it pays much reverence to ’80s classics, Darkness also reaches into the early ’90s, when metal was in the midst of a fundamental transformation: Guns n’ Roses and Metallica proved tougher, un-glam looks was bankable, and Alice in Chains and Pantera previewed the sea change to come in their somewhat slower, markedly darker sounds. It’s an important sliver in metal history to which Darkness pays homage.

Two of Darkness’ biggest touchstones are Metallica’s Black Album and Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tears, transitional records, both from 1991, that ultimately ended up massive commercial successes. There are few patterns more satisfying than the detuned stomp of Metallica’s “Sad But True,” and Spirit Adrift milk everything out that crunch on the title track. Garrett clearly worships Metallica, and Hetfield in his prime was an untouchable rhythm guitarist. Some keyboards sound lifted from Tears, particularly in the title track and instrumental closer “The Way of the Return,” and like Ozzy, goopy keys somehow make them sound even tougher. Darkness is old school, though not chained to one institution, more accessible but not commercial, deeper but not more complicated, a lunge forward without compromise. Garrett is a younger oracle to carry on the torch of heavy metal. Sounds like an unchill role, but he’s got the chops.

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/spirit-adrift-divided-by-darkness-review/

I’ve always worried whenever a band leaves their roots behind to explore different paths that, depending on who you ask, either betray their humble upbringings (and rabid fanbases) or turn them into creative juggernauts. Case in point: Arizona’s Spirit Adrift, once a one-man doom metal project spearheaded by vocalist/guitarist Nate Garrett, has blossomed into a fully-realized heavy metal machine,1 and both 2016’s Chained to Oblivion and 2017’s Curse of Conception being radically different from each other in terms of both mood and style, but thankfully not quality. That last point is startling, as the band’s not even been around five years yet. So I approached Divided by Darkness with an open mind, curious as to where Garrett and company were going to take me this time.

And here we are in the 1990s. My beat-up SNES (or Super Famicom for you non-Americans) works again, my flat-screen TV has been replaced by the familiar TV/record player/liquor cabinet/wooden fire hazard all-in-one that my parents flat-out refused to get rid of,2 and opener “We Will Not Die” wears its Painkiller t-shirt with pride as it reworks Priest‘s epic “Hell Patrol” into a slightly more modern twist. The tight-riffing Garrett flings about retains the drive of its influence while adding a slightly crunchier tone, with his bass work and drummer Marcus Bryant providing a groove-laden pocket for the duo to work with. Garrett’s voice definitely leans more towards James Hetfield than Rob Halford, helping to differentiate itself from the Priest classic even more. No lie, it had me grinning ear-to-ear from beginning to end, and made itself a spot among my small list of Songs o’ the Year in no time.

If Curse of Conception was starting to walk away from the sound and trappings of the American doom metal scene, then Divided by Darkness sees them taking off to the skies, waving one final goodbye before flying off to parts unknown3. Only “Living Light” peers back at the band’s younger days, with the second half delivering hefty riffs before Garrett delivers yet another beautiful Trouble-inspired vocal harmony to close out the song. The rest of the album pays homage to the greats of metal, with “Angel & Abyss” being the clear standout. Opening with a mood that recalls Metallica‘s “Fade to Black,” by the song’s end, it goes into full-bore “Bark at the Moon” territory, complete with maniacal laughter, keyboards, and staccato riffing to close the song out.

Spirit Adrift - Divided by Darkness 02
And that’s also a bit of a nitpick with the album. Sometimes, Spirit Adrift wear their influences a little too close to their sleeves. Not to the point of being flat-out plagiarizing, but enough for an eyebrow to be cocked every now and then (the aforementioned “Angel & Abyss,” for example). Granted, I was smiling just about the whole entire time I heard the album, and it still plays more like a love letter to the classics of yore than trying to cop a well-established style. Also, the title track and “Tortured by Time” don’t hit as hard as the rest of the album, but even then they’re good songs on their own.

Much like Pallbearer4 before them, Spirit Adrift left the trappings of their doom metal beginnings behind for a sound more classic and all-encompassing. With not even five years of existence behind them, the future definitely looks bright for this young quartet, and Divided by Darkness accomplishes the unthinkable: moving forward by giving a respectful glance to the past. Between this and last month’s incredible Exile by Black Sites, there’s no shortage of wealth provided by digging into our genre’s glorious past to see what can be made for future generations to enjoy.

TOO LOW! This one cracked my top ten.

Didn't vote for it but I like these guys. Totally reliable at what they do.

really wanted to listen to this album all last year and before i submitted my ballot and just did not have the time lol

paladin record is extremely fucking awesome

the venom prison record sounds right up my alley and i'm also sad i missed out on it

105 Deus Mortem - Kosmocide 89 Points, 3 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/qDaWpmu.jpg
https://malignantvoices.bandcamp.com/album/kosmocide

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/deus-mortem-kosmocide-review/

A ferocious frenzy. An icy calm. Both are phrases describing points in Deus Mortem’s new album Kosmocide. Due to the seemingly contradictory nature of these two descriptions, one might be skeptical that such dissonant moods could commingle on the same record without creating an inconsistent sound. On their new opus, Deus Mortem do in fact commingle them and still manage to produce a record fans of classic era black metal acts from the 80s and 90s (think Bathory and Mayhem) will salivate over. Formed in the dead of winter in 2008, Deus Mortem is a four-piece black metal band from Wrocław, Poland comprised of ex-Azarath vocalist N. (Necrosodom), S., another S., and L.Th. A lengthy six years have passed since their last full-length, Emanations of the Black Light, so they aren’t deserving of much slack on this sophomore album. It’s about time that they serve up some epic new material and with Kosmocide, Deus Mortem does not disappoint.

Given that the name Deus Mortem translates to “the God of death,” it’s not surprising that the group draws the majority of their inspiration from the spirit of the first and second waves of black metal. Though firmly rooted in the past, Deus Mortem’s sound has matured on this second full-length album; the band’s strength lies in their ability to blend together antagonistic tones. Kosmocide’s standout track “The Destroyer” is both a melodic and aggressive assault. Background vocals at around four minutes add spice, and the acoustic guitar in the closing seconds provides a brief moment of reflection after the pummeling. The preceding track “Ceremony of Reversion p.2,” the longest on the album at over eight minutes and follow-up to “Ceremony of Reversion p.1” from their debut, is a perfect example of Deus Mortem’s perfection of opposites. The track takes you on a journey complete with tempo shifts, guttural spoken word, feverish riffs, and ethereal winds. The most glaring flaw, however, is that these two savage tracks sit at the final two spots on the album, making Kosmocide back-weighted with the strongest numbers at the tail end.

The eerie metal on metal sounds and icy atmospheres found at the very beginning of the opening track “Remorseless Beast” and scattered throughout the album (“Sinister Lava”, “The Seeker”) would feel right at home on Brian Eno’s On Land, perhaps one of the greatest dark ambient albums ever. But the similarities stop there. The chilly ambiance and brief reprieves on Kosmocide never last long and always give way without warning to frenetic, ruthless tremolo picking (“Remorseless Beast”), a lightning fast flurry of blast beasts (“The Soul of the Worlds”), and Necrosodom’s ever-present pained and devilish growls. It’s impressive that these short atmospheric soundscapes induce an alien-like feeling of floating in space but do not sacrifice the ferociousness of the rest of the album. If anything, these weightless fragments strengthen the sense of impending doom that is to come.

Kosmocide’s icing on the cake is the modern, clean, and nearly flawless production thanks to M. of Mgla who is rapidly gaining experience as a music producer. In addition, Artem Grigoryev’s artwork for the album cover is extraordinary. The way the dainty pointillism contrasts with the image of a barbaric beast is symbolic of Kosmocide’s mastery of opposites.

While Deus Mortem’s new album is not revolutionary enough to cause Behemoth, the pinnacle of black metal in recent years, to step down out of the limelight, Kosmocide does, however, prove there is new blood also worthy of attention in the Polish black metal scene.1 All in all, black metal enthusiasts on the prowl for new bands resembling the likes of Bathory or Dissection and willing to accept Kosmocide’s modern production style will be thoroughly pleased. I, for one, will certainly give the record more spins and am left wondering what else Deus Mortem has in their arsenal. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another six years to find out

Next up is a 2 way tie

My #19. Not to be missed if you're a fan of Mgła and Kriegsmaschine.

jeez this paladin record keeps blowing my mind

Not to be missed if you're a fan of Mgła and Kriegsmaschine.

I do like the idea of getting more of that sound without.....y'know

this is no attack on anyone really but mention of Mgła is, for entirely musical reasons, a total turn-off for me

Simon, that's totally fair. lj, that is not fair at all.

When you're right, you're Reich

It gestures towards minimalism, yeah.

103 TIE
Coffin Rot - A Monument to the Dead 90 Points, 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/9wXOrXX.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/4xL5sp9akfLTzvI7uZrUtE

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/coffin-rot-a-monument-to-the-dead-review/

This is death metal from Portland, Oregon. I could probably stop there and you would still know whether or not you’ll love this album. That city is absolutely dominating the genre this year, and we should probably just add a “Portland Metal” tag to WordPress as that domination extends beyond the bounds of death metal. You’re probably getting tired of me blabbing about how great the Weird City’s output has been this year, but I could comfortably fill half of my year end list if forced to choose only from records released by Portland bands. And so, I will continue to drink from the fountain until it runs dry — this is just one of the two October 18th releases from Portland that I’ll be covering. But enough of all that. I suggest you grab yourself a bottle of Gold Bond Extra Strength Medicated Powder as you’re about to come down with a painful case of Coffin Rot.

A Monument to the Dead is Coffin Rot‘s first full-length, and several of the band’s members have been busy this past year releasing another debut that Carcharodon covered here. He wasn’t enamored by their take on stoner doom sludge, but I’m here to tell you that they certainly know their way around a Grave. Sounding like a tribute to the debut from those Swedish death metal giants, early Asphyx, and Cause of Death era Obituary, Monument is eight tracks and 32 minutes of groovy OSDM with spectacular vocals courtesy of Hayden Johnson. If you’re a fan of these classic bands, there’s not much here that you haven’t heard before, but Coffin Rot‘s commitment to the style and ability to produce heavy, yet catchy songs in a concise manner make this album more than worth your time.

“Copremesis” opens things with a brief atmospheric intro of the creepy variety followed by big chords that lead into a speedy Swedeath riff. The track’s final minute briefly allows each of the band members to shine on their own, and it really sets the stage for the rest of the album. Doom passages emerge on “Saw Blade Suicide,” “Incubation of Madness,” “Forced Self-Consumption,” and especially “Coffin Rot,” a seven minute Asphyxian bulldozer that closes the album out splendidly. “Necrotized” features some blistering guitar and drums, but slows to a sick groove as Hayden vomits the track’s title during the chorus. I dare you to keep your head still during the opening seconds of embedded track “Miasma of Barbarity” as guitarist Derek Johnson saws you in half with an arsenal of riffs.

In the promo blurb, Coffin Rot states that they wanted A Monument to the Dead to showcase a “clear-yet-crushing production that’s the epitome of powerful — and one which is richly analog,” and the DR 11 and my ears are here to tell you that they’ve succeeded. This has to be the most pleasing sound I’ve heard on a death metal album this year, barely edging out another Northwest band from last week. The vocals and each instrument sound great in the mix, and the openness of the production allows Brandon Martinez-Woodall’s bass to play a prominent role in the powerful music. Drummer Derek Johnson’s performance is a highlight with his frantic and charmingly flawed (read: real) delivery harkening back to the days when bands were bands and didn’t let computers make everything perfect for them. Aside from some tracks having similar flows and structures, I really can’t find much to fault here. This is very good death metal, no more, no less.

Well, Portland has done it again, and I hope it never stops doing it. A Monument to the Dead is a fantastic sounding take on old school death metal, and the songs make it an easily repeatable listen. Coffin Rot resides in the the same territory as Witch Vomit — geographically, qualitatively, and aesthetically — and they’re the kind of band that pairs equally well with a Portland craft beer or a cheap can of Rainier. Please listen responsibly.

103 TIE
Sanguisugabogg - Pornographic Seizures 90 Points, 2 Votes
https://i.imgur.com/NcPXzVO.jpg
https://open.spotify.com/album/6rCiBnv1EjAdOL3H2uOGlR

https://www.sleepingvillagereviews.com/reviews/sanguisugabogg-pornographic-seizures-review

While many of you are likely aware of the plague pit we keep out back here at the Sleeping Village, a better kept secret is our vomit pit. That's where we go when the going gets...gross. Luckily, Pornographic Seizures, the debut from Ohio's nigh unpronounceable Sanguisugabogg, comes with an appropriate warning on the label: "we are not responsible for any instantaneous vomiting upon listening." Thanks, guys. Long story short, we made it out to the aforementioned vomit pit prior to hitting play on this 4-track grotesquerie , and everyone is for the better because of it.
​
Pornographic Seizures is just that: gross. Obviously. And in that spirit, as is the case of most metal of this variety, it's a bit of a race to see how many negative words I can attribute in a positive light.
Filthy. Putrid. Vile. Disgusting. Shat from the slime-ridden bowels of hell. You can see where I'm going with this: in short, Pornographic Seizures makes one want to explosively surrender the contents of their bowels. And so on. When you take caveman riffs and throw them in the arena with a tight snare, assertive cymbals, and sopping wet gutturals, the result is as massive as you might assume. This is a well-conceived mix of OSDM's blatant aggression, death doom's gloom-ridden atmospherics, and the pulverized-by-wet-concrete application of slam-worth vocal delivery. In the band's words, down-tuned drug death. In any case, it's a filthy/putrid/vile/disgusting mix.

Particularly impressive is the tendency to shift the tempo up or down at a moment's notice, best exemplified on closer "Succulent Decedent." My highlight track, however, would have to be "Perverse/Deranged," which cleverly utilizes the drums to a point most death metal outfits would never consider. For a good chunk of this trick, hammering snare and intriguing fills lead the way--a refreshing change from the riff-centric approach we've come to expect from genre convention. For all the blood and guts strewn about, the instrumentation is relentlessly tight across the board, resembling surgery at the hands of a trained professional, rather than the hands of a chisel-wielding lumberjack. Not to say there isn't a certain lumbering element, so to speak, on the brief-but-hefty "Uningest" and "Turkish Blood Orgy," both of which lean into the thunderous riffage.

At 11 minutes, this release is short, (if not necessarily sweet.) While I've seen some listeners critical of the short length, this particular scribe frankly can't imagine Pornographic Seizures being much longer. I only have so many fluids to expel before I'm little more than a withered husk. Death metal of this visceral variety operates best on the small stage, and here, Sanguisugabogg deliver the goods. Also of note is the production, which, while lo-fi, highlights the best elements with a surprising grace. Unlike their Maggot Stomp labelmates Encoffinized, for example, Sanguisugabogg feels immediately present and accounted for. It's a dynamic mix, no doubt.

Do the 4 tracks herein, tracks, in all their grimy glory, start to bleed into each other? Yeah. But do I give a damn? No, dear readers. Not in the goddamn slightest. If you're coming to Sanguisugabogg for reasons other than immersing yourself in assorted viscera and bodily fluids, methinks you aren't here for the right reasons at all. If, however, you're in the mood to wretch up your intestines, Pornographic Seizures comes highly recommended.

That is me for the day. I'm handing over to pomenitul who may carry on posting today if you guys ask him nicely?

Guys u know the rules, don't post bands with Coffin in the name before 1 pm, it causes me to empty my checking account

Xpost

*Note to Pom. Put the words 'Coffin' as a prefix to every band name from now on*

Haha, I'm should it would improve on some of them.

That write-up for Pornographic Seizures... Can we add it to that poll list of review styles we never want to see.

Coffin Coffins

Coffins Gaahls Wyrd

Are you carrying onwards today, pom? the 4-way tie takes us to 99 at least

Yeah, and I'm gonna post each one separately.

I have no idea how I managed to overlook the Coffin Rot.

the coffin rot one kept growing on me. AMG nails it highlighting the songwriting. songs over tones. my fave blood harvest rec since the first tomb mold

The Sanguisugabogg sounds like pure ooga booga so far. Not bad.

99 TIE
Vircolac – Masque
92 points, 3 votes

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0595568149_10.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/album/2bMQAdnFZJaVTlEYVw5LPP

https://toiletovhell.com/review-vircolac-masque/

On their debut LP, Masque, Vircolac build on the flea-bitten death metal sound of their EPs, plunging listeners into the filth and wickedness of medieval Europe. While Masque isn’t a concept album per se, the band’s aesthetic (S K E L E T O N S) and songwriting choices suggest a shared world between tracks. The battering ram blasts and sword n’ board lyrics of “Titan” evoke the chaos of a battlefield—the brute physicality, the commotion of steel on steel (think war metal, but also music). When folks in the Middle Ages weren’t dying over the petty quarrels of royal families, they flocked to houses of God; the processional quality of the somber, doom-oriented sections of “Titan” and “The Long Trail” recalls the echoing interior of a cathedral, built high to strike fear in the lowly.

This archaic atmosphere is strengthened by the album’s production, which splashes a coat of mud over Brendan McConnell’s guitars without obscuring any details. As on past releases, McConnell seems at home in the grime, penning addictive riffs that reside somewhere between tech death and a bunch of rabid weasels fighting in a ditch (that is to say, they’re loose without being sloppy). There’s a meanness, a confrontational sound to the guitars that staggers through the album like a piss drunk peasant, culminating in the nauseous “Tether & Wane.” Far from the band’s usual blackened death metal style, this track flirts with noise rock, dissolving into shuffle beats and boisterous basslines that challenge the audience to a dizzy tavern brawl.

Like mongrel hounds, each song contains multiple bloodlines, influences that converge to create new beasts. Colin Purcell’s crisp, deliberate drumming in “Masque of Obsequious Venality” is a far cry from the murk of the preceding music; it’s this adventurous quality that lets the album burrow into the skin so effectively. Whether channeling Pallbearer‘s melodic doom or getting spooky with witchhouse-certified synths, Vircolac avoid the static songwriting that makes so many extreme metal albums a chore to listen through in full. Some songs wither and fade with a whimper. Some approach madness and return unscathed, while others succumb to the poison, crashing dead with little warning.