Everyone should go watch Mario Lanzas’ animated short #ANTEDILUVIAN. This tribute to early paleoart is absolutely sublime. It’s definitely got my Stomp of Approval!

https://dinodadreviews.com/2024/09/24/antediluvian-short-film-by-mario-lanzas/

#Antediluvian
https://antediluvian.bandcamp.com/

Marciume cosmico che ricorda un po' gli #ONDSKAPT però più death...

Ah, e artwork strafighi

Defacement – Duality Review

By Dear Hollow

Defacement has always been an apt but incomplete moniker for the act that professes it – best described by the International act’s1 2021 sophomore self-titled effort’s artwork. While the gore and violence of a face erased is enough for the blasting excess and macabre decadence of death metal, Defacement has always been content to meditate, to stare into the face – or lack thereof – in an undeniably unflinching but unquestionably thoughtful approach. Following two releases of dissonant and blackened death metal, Duality is a capitalization of what makes the act great, if not held back by old habits.

Featuring three members of Deathcrush, Defacement’s bread and butter relies on blazing riffs that straddle the line between dissonance and murk, outlined by insane drumming,2 and monstrous growls, as well as an unexpected love for industrial atmospheres. Duality features four tracks proper, punctuated by interludes, with the act’s most ambitious material yet. Comfortably fitting within the ranks of dissodeath and “esoteric death metal,” Duality offers the best of what you love about Defacement and quite a deal more.

Everything serves the riffs and the atmosphere aboard Duality, and both sides of the aptly titled album are showcased. The four main tracks, “Burden,” “Barrier,” “Scabulous,” and “Duality” alll encompass unique attacks of varying capacity, tied together by a tapestry of murk and dissonance. For instance, “Barrier” offers the most aggressive attack in its blazing riffs and war march drumming, while “Burden” showers listeners with a tastefully yearning melody between fluid movements between blackened tremolo and churning riffs. “Scabulous” is a foreshadowing in its more contemplative and arrhythmic lurching motion, preparation for the sixteen-minute closer. “Duality,” true to its name, delves into layers of flaying dissonance, rip-roaring solos, and head-crushing riffs, interspersed with moments of bittersweet melody. Because the album serves to be diverse in its approaches, its impenetrable murky mix courtesy of Gabriele Gramaglia (Cosmic Putrefaction, Vertebra Atlantis) and Simon Da Silva (Aversio Humanitatis) is a wonder to behold, as its esoteric layers create a swamp of sound aptly opaque for this style, but allowing free movement and appropriate shine to all its players.

The real downside to Duality is nearly exactly what downed its predecessor: interludes. While Defacement insists on creating a dark and murky environ with its death metal centerpieces, any momentum gained is quickly extinguished by unnecessary two-and-a-half-minute slurps of industrial noise and trip-hop beats. While they largely succeed in capitalizing upon the kind of place that Defacement hopes to evoke, they feel largely unnecessary and borderline derailing. This is why “Duality” is so effective as a closer, as its length provides adequate breadth and organicity for the act to seamlessly move between viciousness tinged with disharmony, slower menace, and climactic yearning melody – without interruptions or interludes. These aside, as competently as Defacement performs Duality, they nevertheless remain in limbo in capturing a unique palette – and instead evoke ghostly meanderings somewhere between Antediluvian, Plasmodium, and Ulcerate.

For all my complaints, Defacement nonetheless have created a work admirable for its sheer ambition in effectively sweeping listeners away to a place cold and otherworldly. With just enough melody to balance out the dissonance and murk, enough aggression to soar above pretense, and a stunning balance of the esoteric and punishing to get your head bobbing while admiring the bleakness, Defacement accomplishes what it sets out to do – creating their best offering thus far. However, with jarring industrial/trip-hop interludes killing momentum and a huge question mark regarding the act’s trademark beyond an amalgamation of dissodeath and blackened death’s respective echelons, Duality narrowly misses dealing a stunning blow. However, Defacement invites listeners to behold its gaping maw in blood-soaked reverie, and Duality offers its best incarnation yet.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: STREAM
Label: Avantgarde Music
Websites: defacementofficial.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/officialdefacement
Releases Worldwide: July 26th, 2024

#2024 #35 #Anguana #Antediluvian #AvantgardeMusic #AversioHumanitatis #BlackenedDeathMetal #ContinuumOfXul #CosmicPutrefaction #DeathMetal #Deathcrush #Defacement #DissonantDeathMetal #Duality #DutchMetal #EarthAndPillars #InternationalMetal #Jul24 #Plasmodium #Review #Reviews #Ulcerate #VertebraAtlantis

Adversarial – Solitude with the Eternal Review

By Dear Hollow

I guess I’m one of two Adversarial fans here at AMG, because I’ve name-dropped them in scattered reviews, while Angry Metal Guy himself made a 224-word TYMHM back in 2010 for the act’s debut All Idols Fall Before the Hammer, then slyly name-dropping them in a 2019 ROTM post compared to Musmahhu. The point is, Adversarial is apparently obscure. While sporting a style not unlike the dense n’ dissonant stylings of Antediluvian and Mitochondrion, the melodic dissonant template has always reminded me of Ulcerate; the difference is the absolutely apeshit blast-happy approach to punishment. After nine long years, we are hit with third full-length Solitude with the Eternal, and it embraces the duality, a double-edged sword, of dissonance and punishment.

Time has not worn Toronto’s Adversarial, as Solitude will attest. Punishment is still priority number one, as 2010’s All Idols… and 2015’s Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism firmly established – blastbeats and shredding riffs are in no short supply. The trio of raging guitarist/vocalist C.S. and thunderous bassist M.M., romping atop the galloping doomsday horse of drummer E.K., shred and gurgle like there’s no tomorrow. Despite its cutthroat intensity, Solitude with the Eternal manages to avoid war metal unhingedness while remaining just on this side of sane, guiding its compositions with a “Janus-faced” and “dual-tongued” attack, a pendulum swinging between sharp and slithering, gazing upon horrific truths while revering its macabre beauty. Ultimately, while nothing terribly groundbreaking, Adversarial makes the nine-year wait worth it in its more dynamic songwriting weaponized in this dichotomy for maximum darkness.

Solitude with the Eternal is a bit of Angelcorpse songs covered by Antediluvian and Tetragrammacide, while somehow avoiding the crawling crassness of the former and the DR0 eardrum decimation of the latter. Balancing thick and grimy riffs with a stinging dissonance that shines like a blast of shattered glass, tracks like “Beware the Howling Darkness on Thine Left Shoulder,” “Merging Within the Destroyer,” and “Fanes at the Engur” are relentless assaults guided by C.S.’s absolutely devastating bellows and subterranean shredding with simple yet effective dissonant overlays, while “Hatred Kiln of Vengeance” and “Endless Maze of Blackened Dominion” feel like Evangelion-era Behemoth on crack, guitar harmonics balancing tones blasphemous and regal in equal measure. Bass is blessedly present, shining amid the blinding melodies in “Beware the Howling Darkness…” and “Fanes of the Engur.” Drums have always been Adversarial’s main spotlight, a sharp pong dominating tracks in All Idols Fall Before the Hammer and a mammoth thud in Death, Endless Nothing…; Solitude with the Eternal sports a much more palatable in-between, effectively cutting through the murk while not testing listeners’ mettle.

While spending most of its time blasting, Adversarial’s textures still shine. “Witness to the Eternal Light” features an atmospheric wind-torn ambient motif amid the blasting with a more dissonant palette, which sets the tone for the centerpieces “Death is an Advisor in the Woods of the Devil” and “Crushed Into the Kingdom of Darkness.” These two tracks feel like the eye of the storm, focusing more heavily on dense atmospherics and stinging melody, injecting a powerful sense of purpose to the pummeling that surrounds it; the former deals in far more prominent guitar melodies, while the latter paints its dense riffs in broad strokes through slower tempos against the backdrop of night. Because of this setup, the album feels a bit like a journey through a heretical hurricane, giving further weight to the album’s second act. Adversarial’s more meditative songwriting shines here.

Of course, this is not to say that Solitude with the Eternal is perfect. It’s obnoxiously loud, riddled with tempo abuse, and C.S.’s saturated vocals can often drown out the instrumentals, questioning momentum – ultimately requiring multiple listens to discern every murky movement and burning lead. However, Adversarial’s unhinged attack that avoids war metal decadence is addictive, and its more nuanced textures give the third full-length a mysterious and sinister quality only hinted at in the band’s catalog. It may not make lists, but it remains a pummeling return from an act that feels like they’re just getting started.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: facebook.com/AdversarialOfficial
Released Worldwide: May 31st, 2024

#2024 #35 #Adversarial #Angelcorpse #Antediluvian #Behemoth #BlackenedDeathMetal #CanadianMetal #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #May24 #Mitochondrion #Review #Reviews #SolitudeWithTheEternal #Tetragrammacide #Ulcerate #WarMetal

They pressed on, long past the point of no return. Lights flickered; batteries dying. Their leader’s white robes stained orange from the antediluvian stone walls.

“There it is,” they cried pointing to a gate of writhing faces, silently screaming. The gates of hell

“Fear not,” their leader cried. I am the 2nd coming, & we shall set them free #Haibun

Antediluvian
Walls of orange stone
Gates of hell

#horror365 #antediluvian #Horror #DarkPoetry
#Haiku #Senyru #FreeHaiku
#575Prompt #MastoPrompt

Wet, and cold. Shallow puddles rimmed the sidewalks and cracked asphalt, where they were sinking into the grass and mud. Each step of the trongs of sunken-eyed misericordium pushed the man-made paths back below the natural materials. They had had time to prepare. They were given signs. Given warning. Given hope. They had ignored it all, and now they were fated to trudge on as the rains came down, bitter and stinging cold.

#horror365 #antediluvian

A #horror365 Prompt: #antediluvian

Follow this hashtag for more awesome #horror stories written by incredible #writers!

I don't do New Years resolutions, but here are a few personal things I'd like to do in 2023:

* Code more in #Go. Coding in my personal time is sporadic, and I'll end up forgetting what I've learned if I don't keep at it.
* Work on my #antediluvian #textAdventure and RPG setting.
* Write 12 new #blog posts (avg. of 1/mth)
* Get a second #motorcycle. Haven't decided what yet.
* See more live concerts. I've missed out on too many opportunities due to avoiding COVID.