Castrator – Coronation of the Grotesque Review

By Tyme

With Burdizzo‘s ready, New York’s female death metal foursome Castrator are back to crush spermatic cords and eviscerate eardrums with their second album, Coronation of the Grotesque. Despite forming in 2013, Castrator didn’t release Defiled in Oblivion until 2022, that debut finding its way into the hairy palms and ears of our very own, stun baton-wielding overlord Steel, who gave it a respectable 3.0/5.0. While founding drummer Carolina Peréz (Hypoxia, Mama Killa), bassist Robin Mazen (Derkéta, Gruesome), and Defiled in Oblivion vocalist Clarissa Badini (Vicious Blade)1 return for another go-round, guitarist Kimberly Orellana, lauded by Steel as one of Castrator’s biggest assets, was replaced by Sara Loerlein from The Breathing Process. With some concern about the impact this lineup change would have, I soldiered on to determine if Coronation of the Grotesque finds Castrator at their most vicious, or serves as a signal this beast needs spayed.

Clinging to many of the ’80s and ’90s death metal tropes that fueled the fires of their debut, Castrator didn’t steer Coronation of the Grotesque into any new, uncharted territory. Still sonically sliced from the same loins as Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and Morbid Angel, the formula repeats as bludgeoning bass lines and battering ram drumming set the boundaries within which all the brutal riffs, shredding solos, chugging breakdowns, and bestial vocals do their work—standard fare, yes, but excellently executed. Within seconds of the opening throat punch that is “Fragments of Defiance,” a barbarous ballbuster full of powerhouse riffage and lots of Rick Rozz-inspired whammy dives, it’s apparent that Castrator has upped their game. Clarissa Badini, in particular, has further refined her technique, inflections of David Vincent and traces of Glen Benton intact; her gutturals are even more rib-rattling, and when positioned against or layered under her higher-pitched raspy screams, the effect is absolute devastation. Bucking the predominantly masculine milieu in which they operate, Castrator continues their march toward the death metal elite, and Coronation of the Grotesque is the staircase they ascend.

From performance to production, each aspect of Coronation of the Grotesque improves on Castrator’s past. As good as Orellana was on Defiled in Oblivion, Sara Loerlein completely shreds her way through Coronation of the Grotesque’s thirty-seven-minute runtime. From the frenzied, dissonant leads and Deicide-ic chugs of “I Am Eunuch” to the thrashy, speedy riffs and Celtic Frost-ian breakdowns of “Deviant Miscreant,” Loerlein proves an upgrade, and her soloing, whether melodically melancholic (“Remnants of Chaos”) or full-on fretboard furious (“Blood Bind’s Curse,” “Mortem Opeterie”), is excellent. Spotlighted in its space by Noah Buchanan’s great production work, which also manages to bring more power to Pérez’s drums and allows Manzen’s bass work to shine through in a way it never did on Defiled in Oblivion. Castrator infused Coronation of the Grotesque with an altogether better flow as well, filled with stronger songwriting.

From the tragic, ruthless killing of Mahsa Amini to the abhorrent deeds of predator Naasón Joaquín García (“Covenant of Deceit”) and the ancient Sumerian eunuchization of males meant for slavery and servitude (“I Am Eunuch”), Castrator forgoes pedestrian blood-n-guts to focus more on the societal ills of injustice and human suffering, which adds a layer of gravitas and intelligence to the proceedings. Coronation of the Grotesque packs a walloping punch, and my quibbles with it are few, my biggest being what seems to be Castrator’s habit of tacking a cover song on the end of their albums. Defiled in Oblivion’s version of “Countess Bathory” was fine but unnecessary, as too is the superfluous inclusion of Castrator’s version of Exodus’ excellent “Metal Command” here. I didn’t find it engaging at all, and it diminished what could have been a more visceral conclusion had “Discordant Rumination,” with its final bits sounding reminiscent of the mid-section in Pantera’s “Strength Beyond Strength,” ushered things to a close.

I walked away from Coronation of the Grotesque with the same “Fuck yah!” feeling I had when watching that scene from G.I. Jane, when a bloodied and beaten Demi Moore raises her battered head to scream “Suck my dick!” at her domineering master chief. Castrator are legit, no doubt, and their excellence shouldn’t be any more impressive because they’re all female, but it is, and I am here for it. If you liked Defiled in Oblivion, you’ll love this. If you’re hearing about Castrator for the first time, Coronation of the Grotesque is definitely worth spinning. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: August 15th, 2025

#2025 #35 #Aug25 #CannibalCorpse #Castrator #CoronationOfTheGrotesque #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Deicide #MorbidAngelDeathMetal #NewYorkDeathMetal #Review

Crypt Sermon announce Saturnian Appendices EP; share "Only Ash and Dust" visualizer

https://metalnerd.net/crypt-sermon-announce-saturnian-appendices-ep-share-only-ash-and-dust-visualizer/

#CryptSermon #DarkDescentRecords #metal #doommetal #hardrock

#TheMetalDogArticleList
#MetalSucks
Castrator’s New Album ‘Coronation of the Grotesque’ Coming This August
'Covenant of Deceit' now streaming. Castrator’s New Album ‘Coronation of the Grotesque’ Coming This August .

https://www.metalsucks.net/2025/06/18/castrators-new-album-coronation-of-the-grotesque-coming-this-august/

#Castrator #CoronationOfTheGrotesque #MetalSucks #Revocation #NewGodsNew #DeathMetal #DarkDescentRecords #August2025 #Keenan #AshleyTaylor

SKELETAL REMAINS- Fragments Of The Ageless
https://eternal-terror.com/?p=67463

RELEASE YEAR: 2024

BAND URL: https://www.skeletal-remains.com/

Except for my brief church choir stint and occasional singing for and with children as an English teacher, I am not much of a musician, however, even I can still make the claim, as an over 30 year metal fan, that it seems not a complicated thing to make death metal. Because of that, it’s also very hard to make memorable death […]

#california #CenturyMediaRecords #DARKDESCENTRECORDS #deathMetal #FDARecords #FragmentsOfTheAgeless #LosAngeles #oldSchoolDeathMetal #SkeletalRemains #TheUnitedStates

Phrenelith – Ashen Womb Review

By Alekhines Gun

In the early 2010’s, the world saw an explosion of the New-School-Old-School Revival of death metal. Spearheaded by outfits like Tomb Mold, Gatecreeper, Hyperdontia, and Undergang—to name but a few—this wave of bands represented taking the crust, filth, and savagery of your favorite genre founding fathers and launching them forth with wrath into of the modern era. Standing shoulder to shoulder near the front of this pack was Phrenelith, a Danish group whose debut Desolate Landscape made them scene darlings almost overnight. Unfortunately, sophomore release Chimaera opted for an increase in muck and atmospheric decor at the cost of some of their first album’s power, and was received somewhat divisively. Now, some four years later, Ashen Womb is prepared to drop like an anvil on their unsuspecting fanbase. Will they continue to dive into the murky wells, or has this womb been gestating a return to glorious, bone-powdering violence?

As it turns out, Phrenelith have opted for option C. The approach of Ashen Womb, in both music and sound, pitches for a merging of the melancholy of Chimaera with Desolate Landscape’s cement-shattering methodology to songwriting. The production sidesteps both previous releases, at once managing to be muddy in its tone with leads vibrant enough to cut through the mire. Making his LP debut, drummer Andreas Nordgreen quickly etches his identity into the band, flowing between creative drum fills from measure to measure, giving repeated refrains in “Chrysopoeia” and “Astral Larvae” an engaging quality. Much like the artwork adorning the cover, the more melodic tones are buried but bright, even as bassist Jakob plays in tandem with guitar leads rather than chords, laying riffcraft to savage the crust below. The atypically warm DR lets everything shine in this paradoxical sonic quagmire, creating the suffocating character Chimaera opted for without sacrificing the clarity of barbarity at work.

Older fans will be stoked to hear the return to immediate violence in the compositions. Lead single “Stagnated Blood” toys with a repeated riff at alternating octaves, stringing together hooks and character into a ruthless scorched earth assault. “A Husk Wrung Dry” rocks an infected 7/4 riff replete with whammy abuse and staccato-laced chords which slide from bouncy to bludgeoning. Guitarists David and Simon Daniel toy with bends, modulation, and sustained tapping sections recalling the more crystalline moments of Innumerable Forms, with Simon’s vocals a belligerent, reverb-soaked guttural soup. The vocals in particular are masterfully placed—both within the mix and the music—lyrical arrangement flawlessly adding titanic force to ruthless riffing while knowing when to be silent and let the music speak for itself.

Nonetheless, the specter of Chimaera looms betwixt the heavier moments, filling the negative spaces with gloom and somberness. Title track “Ashen Womb” and “Nebulae” end on repeated, haunting melodies, drawn out to a protracted conclusion. “Sphageion” serves as one of the better interludes I’ve heard, with tension-building distortion and Andreas breaking into a free-form drum solo which would go over swell in a live setting. Even the instrumental opener “Noemata” manages to carve an identity as a curtain-lifter rather than a pointless buildup, rendering Ashen Womb a journey rather than a mere collection of tracks. True, the atmospherics are sometimes heavy-handed; there’s no need to bookend songs with a cumulative couple minutes of Paysage d’Hiver-esque wind and sounds, and a minute could be trimmed off of both emotive fade-outs. Despite this, the mastery of seamless transitioning, rather than sandwiching of the disparaging elements gives Ashen Womb its own flavor in the Phrenelith landscape.

Few bands can manage to make each album its own time capsule of sound and style, but Ashen Womb accomplishes that and more, cementing Phrenelith as a band with chapters. Some may cling to the idea that Desolate Landscape is a collection of better songs, but Ashen Womb is a better album; a journey with highs, lows, and tension-building. By managing to merge the melodicism and mood with the brutality, rather than sacrificing one for the other, these Danes have continued to evolve their sound in an admirable direction. Who can say where the fourth release will take us? One thing’s for sure: it won’t be what any of us expect, other than a commitment to high quality, lethal weapons grade, unadulterated death.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ashen-womb | https://www.facebook.com/phrenelith/
Releases Worldwide: February 7, 2025

#2025 #35 #AshenWomb #DanishMetal #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #Feb25 #Gatecreeper #Hyperdontia #InnumerableForms #PaysageDHiver #Phrenelith #Review #Reviews #TombMold #Undergang

Gutless – High Impact Violence Review

By Saunders

In a banner year for death metal of especially brutal, dissonant and challenging varieties, as we close in on the end of another action-packed year for metal, it’s time to return to the simpler joys of the death metal genre. Enter rising Australian upstarts Gutless. Following their 2018 demo release, the quartet finally unleashes their debut LP, High Impact Violence. Gutless make it clear from the outset they are wired into the old school framework of ’90s-flavored death, pulling no punches. While indebted to the classic American death metal eras of the early to mid ’90s, Gutless feature their own twisted, muffled charms and modern interpretations to smash out an album of solid substance and plenty of ballsy attitude, neck-snapping riffs, and tidy chops. But as end-of-year burnout kicks in and list season begins to take shape, do these Melbourne lads have what it takes to make a significant splash in the death metal cesspool of 2024?

Not being familiar with the underground history and previous short-form releases by Gutless, I dug out their well-received Mass Extinction EP from 2018 in preparation for the High Impact Violence to follow. It was a particularly nasty, feral slab of old school goodness, hinting at their potential. High Impact Violence features a more refined, polished update of their earlier material, yet retains a nasty, no-frills underground edge, including nods to the classic Floridian scene, and early Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse and Dying Fetus. Straight off the bat, when dissecting the Gutless DNA threaded into their formula, their strong affiliation with ’90s death metal shines through. Rather than hone into one particular influence, Gutless sculpt their own robust sound, built upon blunt force aesthetics, favoring brutish, tautly wound assaults, thuggish riffs and curb stomping beatdowns.

Amidst the aggressive, take-no-prisoners songwriting, Gutless boast the riffs, bludgeoning, tightly executed musicianship, and upgraded retro flair with an endearing charm that is easy to like. So, while initially, the overall package seemed to blaze by without leaving much of a lasting impression, repeat listens have treated the album kindly. This becomes all the more palatable considering the lean twenty-six-minute runtime. “Bashed and Hemorrhaging” does what any lean, mean death metal album should do, feasting on fast, aggressive rhythms, rabid vocals, and sick, pit-ready groove sections. The belligerent, no-frills assault continues to batter senses and hammer skulls across the album’s efficient duration. Gutless leverage the rough and tumble riffs and chunky mid-paced surges with tasteful soloing and blastier explosions (“Scalpel Obsession”), deft thrash and slam-infused dynamic twists (“Galvanized”), and old school grind, pummel and melodic flair (“Carved into Existence”). Certain tracks, such as those named, stand out from the pack, but it’s all solid, if sometimes unremarkable fare.

High Impact Violence succeeds more often than it falls flat or fails to impose itself on the listener. Yet despite its strengths and solid qualities, the album is not without some issues. Each song offers cool moments; however, a handful of tracks fail to carve deeper impressions in the memory bank once the frenetic attack subsides. More song-by-song individuality and further development of their songwriting skills will hopefully yield stronger results next time around. Allan Stacey and Tom Caldwell skillfully wage war on their instruments, cherry-picking from their influential touchstones with an energetic mix of old school death riffs, clubbing grooves, and occasional melodic flourishes and nifty solos. Drummer Ollie Ballantyne bludgeons his kit with reckless abandon, employing a busy, aggressive, groovy style without relying heavily on excessive blasting or one-dimensional rhythms. Joe Steele isn’t left behind, his meaty low-end given moments to shine. Caldwell’s motor-mouthed, muffled growls are serviceably performed, though a little more variety and unhinged edge of the early vocal eruptions would have added a welcome layer of grimy menace.

Overall, Gutless exhibit a fine example of their long-gestating efforts in finally unleashing their debut LP to the underground masses. And although the final package does not quite deliver a knockout punch, High Impact Violence remains a polished debut and hopefully a springboard to greater things in store for the band’s future endeavors. Perhaps splicing the album’s accomplished riffcraft, refinement and addictive sense of groove, with the nastier, rawer aesthetics of their early work could produce a more potent platform for this beast to grow.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dark Descent Records
Websites: gutlessmelbourne.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/gutlessmelbourne
Releases Worldwide: November 22nd, 2024

#2024 #30 #AustralianMetal #CannibalCorpse #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #DyingFetus #Gutless #HighImpactViolence #OldSchoolDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #Suffocation

Adorior – Bleed on My Teeth Review

By Mark Z.

Somewhere along the way, Adorior got angry. When this English group released their 1998 debut Like Cutting the Sleeping, they sounded like a pretty traditional black metal band, albeit with occasional experimental touches in the form of cleanly sung segments and moody atmospheric passages. I don’t know what happened after that record was released, but when the band returned with 2005’s Author of Incest, they sounded ready to take up arms against the entire human race. Author of Incest is, simply put, one of the most incendiary albums ever recorded. With its scalding guitars, pummeling drums, and enraged vocals, the record showed Adorior infusing a hefty amount of death metal into the proceedings, ultimately resulting in a napalm bombing in musical form. The album’s opening track, “Hater of Fucking Humans,” is easily one of the most vicious blackened death metal songs of all time, and vocalist Melissa Gray’s performance on that track remains one of the most furious and unhinged I’ve ever heard. Now, after years of dormancy, the group are finally back with their third album, Bleed on My Teeth. Does it continue the band’s diabolical conquest of humanity?

It’s obviously been a long time since the last album, and in the interim Adorior lost all prior members except Melissa1 and drummer “D. Molestör.” Thus, one would understandably be concerned about whether Adorior could maintain their aggression. Fortunately, Mr. Molestör seems to have selected a suitably angry cadre of newcomers from other projects he’s been involved with, including current or former members of Grave Miasma, Cruciamentum, and Qrixkuor. Opener “Begrime Judas” shows that these new recruits have just as much pent-up rage as their predecessors. With explosive riffs, fiery tremolo runs, and surging rhythms, the song is livid and combative, making it sound like no time has passed since Author of Incest. As if to further drive home the band’s militant nature, the track even features a ruthless half-time thrash break overlaid with samples of automatic gunfire. Such intensity rarely subsides until the title track concludes the album with wailing notes approximately 50 minutes later.

Just like the last record, Bleed on My Teeth matches the scorching fury of Impiety while sounding blunter, heavier, and looser. Señor Molestör is an absolute madman on drums, moving furiously between blast beats, frantic thrash drumming, and pummeling breaks that hit like artillery strikes. The guitars ejaculate a nonstop stream of hostility, veering wildly between whiplashing tremolos, searing chords, and even some more rhythmic ideas. Songs like “Ophidian Strike” and “Moment of Mania” may sound chuggier than the others, but they don’t lose one drop of intensity because of it. Likewise, “L.O.T.P. – Vomit Vomit Vomit Bastard” is one of my favorite tracks here not just because of its title, but also for how it swells with gigantic mid-paced riffs that give rise to a triumphant aura and an obscene yet strangely catchy refrain (“He likes to make them cum & then revel in their shame… He likes to make them say his name…”).

If there’s one hangup I have with this album, it’s the vocals. After almost two decades since the last album, Melissa’s raspy shout still sounds pissed off, but she occasionally sounds strained, and her loose sense of timing sometimes feels at odds with the music. Nonetheless, her wild approach ultimately won me over, and her occasional air siren screams only add to the maniacal energy. The chanted gang shouts in songs like “Scavengers of Vengeance” further propel the rampage and are a nice callback to similar moments from Author of Incest. Production-wise, the album is hefty and hot. While it sounds louder than its DR8 would suggest, everything remains clear while swarming together in a way that’s fiery and forceful, but never exhausting. The record’s dynamic drumming, superb sequencing, and occasional moments of brief ambience only further stave off fatigue.

Ultimately, Bleed on My Teeth is a paragon of extremity. It leaves no orifice unfucked. It is an expulsion of hostility, a firestorm of fury, a fist in the ass of decency. Above all, it is a glorious return for Adorior, and a surefire treat for those bloodthirsty cretins who have been waiting so long to finally hear more of what these maniacs have to offer. Close your eyes, open wide, and let them bleed on your fukkin teeth.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Labels: Dark Descent Records | Sepulchral Voice Records
Websites: adorior.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/adorior
Releases Worldwide: September 27th, 2024

#2024 #40 #Adorior #BlackMetal #BleedOnMyTeeth #Cruciamentum #DarkDescentRecords #DeathMetal #EnglishMetal #GraveMiasma #Impiety #Qrixkuor #Review #Reviews #Sep24 #SepulchralVoiceRecords

Record(s) o’ the Month – June 2024

By Angry Metal Guy

As the summer sun scorched the earth, June delivered a cornucopia of crushing riffs, haunting melodies, and enough blast beats to rattle even the most hardened skulls.1 But finally, the time for the Record(s) o’ the Month for June has arrived! We understand there’s a certain impatience surrounding this, but to give you a peek behind the curtain here, the writers at AngryMetalGuy.com take great pride in the albums they reviewed being the Record o’ the Month. Thus, it’s important that we not hand out the award willy-nilly because we feel the writers should not be too easily rewarded. Such ease and timeliness make writers weak. And, you might be unaware of this, we aim to develop super reviewers; a class of reviewers with opinions and analyses so potent that your taste receptors will dance and sing upon checking out our recommendations.2

Long story short, these things take time. So, confidential details of our absolutely-IRB-approved-research aside,3 June turned out to be a surprisingly enjoyable month with a couple of albums that I had trouble leaving off the list. But the top slot? You almost certainly should’ve guessed it. So, without further ado (and before impatience metastasizes into a tantrum4), we present you the Record(s) o’ the Month for June of 2024.

Enjoy the flame war and list-making competition!5

Calling Ulcerate anything other than the world’s premiere modern death metal act would be a mistake. Unlike some bands, whose meteoric rise makes them feel overhyped, Ulcerate has slowly and steadily gained steam since their debut in 2008. Having been a fan since 2009’s iconic Everything Is Fire, it has been exciting to follow their trajectory from a dissodeath band appreciated by the Trve Connoissevr to every release being one of the year’s most anticipated albums.6 Over time, Ulcerate’s sound has continued to develop, and that evolution has increasingly distinguished them from the pack. Cutting the Throat of God [purchase on Bandcamp], which was released June 14th from Debemur Morti Productions, is a powerful continuation of their journey, achieving a perfect balance between the dissonant intensity that defines their earlier work and a newfound melodic sensibility that adds depth (and more importantly, contrast) without sacrificing brutality. This album doesn’t just revisit the themes of existential dread and philosophical inquiry that Ulcerate has always explored; it deepens them, bringing a profound sense of urgency and emotional weight to their music. The atmosphere is suffocating, yet there’s a sense of catharsis in the sheer ferocity and precision of their compositions. As Thus Spoke gushed with glee, “Ulcerate’s greatest manifestations of existentially anguished, veil-tearing truth and ambitious composition” are contained within Cutting the Throat of God, making it perhaps the most profound work to date.

Runner(s) Up:

Crypt Sermon // The Stygian Rose [June 14th, 2024 | Dark Descent | Bandcamp] — In a year devoid of quality doom, Philly’s classic doom mongers Crypt Sermon brotherly shoved themselves into the spotlight with their third opus The Stygian Rose. With the Candlemassive sound heard on their past records intact, Crypt Sermon loads in scads of traditional metal elements and flirts with more extreme elements as they put on an atmospheric doom composition clinic. The band continued to refine, and master, a perfect blend of crushing doom riffs and soaring, majestic melodies that evoke a powerful atmosphere. The Stygian Rose is bolstered by a commanding vocal performance, that when paired with the band’s intricate, and heavy, compositions, raises the bar for the genre. As Steel Druhm enthusiastically exclaimed, “If this isn’t the doom album of 2024, someone made a merger deal with the Devil.“

Noxis // Violence Inherent in the System [June 28th, 2024 | Rotted Life Records | Bandcamp] — If I’m honest, I couldn’t take this record seriously at first because it’s named after the thing that a certain anarchosyndicalist is yelling as he’s forcibly grabbed by Arthur, King of the Britons7 in one of Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s most iconic scenes.8 Yet, Kenstrosity and I have an uncomfortable level of overlap musically—when he’s able to contain his enthusiasm for bad things—and so I decided to give Noxis the ol’ College Try. Fortunately for Noxis, and the readers here, the ol’ “College Try” means something different when you have a PhD. Thus, I dug deep into the Violence Inherent in the System and quickly realized that I had chosen wisely. Not only does Noxis play a delightfully energetic form of death metal that doesn’t feel like a direct homage to any scene or band, but Violence Inherent in the System is well-produced fun, and it contains the first ever—as far as I’m aware also the only—bassoon solo on a death metal record. What have we ever done to deserve the bounty of the scene?

#2024 #Blog #Candlemass #CryptSermon #CuttingTheThroatOfGod #DarkDescentRecords #EverythingIsFire #Jun24 #Noxis #RecordOTheMonth #RecordOTheMoth #RecordSOTheMonth #RottedLifeRecords #TheStygianRose #Ulcerate #ViolenceInherentInTheSystem