Plague Curse – Verminous Contempt Review

By Spicie Forrest

We’ve all been told, once or thrice, not to judge a book by its cover. As a species, we’re pretty good at doing it anyway. In metal circles, band logos and album art often follow certain tropes that let us quickly identify what we’re about to hear and set expectations accordingly. Except when they don’t. When I first saw the cover art for Verminous Contempt, I thought I had it pegged. I mean, rats? Green mystery fluid? Skulls? This was sewage-drenched death metal for sure. I was, of course, wrong. For their debut, Plague Curse instead offers a highly polished platter of blackened death metal. Irregardless of genre, however, the only question that matters here is, does it slap?

The heart of Verminous Contempt beats death, but its blackened influences are plenty vital. Bolt Thrown riffs, courtesy of Joe Caswell (Burden of Ymir), and Neil Schneider’s fully automatic drums offer a tank tread massage on “In the Shadow of Hate” and “Procession of Dead,” while “Amidst the Devastation” and “Hate Fuck Of Fornication and Malice” get their meat hooks in you like Cattle Decapitation in an asylum. Guitar licks in the skeletal, dissonant veins of Morbid Angel or Pestilence add a hunted sense of unrest (“Nocturnal Cruelty,” “Callous Abomination”). This would make for a decent record on its own, but well-placed blackened tremolos coalesce and melt away throughout the album like specters in a fog. “Umbrage Earned” and “Of Fornication and Malice” open with hellish, blackened salvos of Archspired urgency, but what’s particularly noteworthy about the former—and true to varying degrees across all of Verminous Contempt—is the way the band twists and warps death metal instrumentation to fit over black metal structures. While much of this record sounds like death metal, “Umbrage Earned” reminds me more of Watain from a compositional standpoint. Verminous Contempt isn’t just black metal and death metal played next to each other; Plague Curse creates a true blend of the two.

The instrumentals on Verminous Contempt are nothing to sneeze at, and neither is Nick Rossi’s vocal performance. His lows evoke Suffocation or Septicflesh, while highs are closer to Cattle Decapitation or Mental Cruelty. Rossi even gets brutally low on “In the Shadow of Hate” and “Callous Abomination.” He’s got an impressive toolkit. And whether low, high, or somewhere in between, he’s phlegmy and wet, not unlike Lik. It brings an unrefined, unhinged edge to an album whose production is otherwise pretty clean. The added grit does wonders for Plague Curse’s sound, creating much-needed texture across Verminous Contempt. Rossi’s standout performance is occasionally a detriment, however, as a few instrumental sections struggle to hold their own in his absence (“Procession of Dead,” “Reigning in Ruin”).

Verminous Contempt is an energetic and dynamic album. Riffs abound, both searing like Spectral Wound (“Most Vile”) and crushing like Immolation (“Callous Abomination”). Whether slinging neoclassical hooks (“Most Vile”), creating blackened tension (“In the Shadow of Hate”), or expertly shifting tempo (“Reigning in Ruin”), Caswell can count on Schneider and bassist George Van Doorn to provide a solid foundation upon which to drive each track. Transitions are well-timed and flow seamlessly, making the album an enjoyable and smooth listen end to end. Even tastefully and sparingly added dissonance incorporates well into the broader picture (“Reigning in Ruin,” “Nocturnal Cruelty”). But with such obvious songwriting prowess and tight construction, it’s a little frustrating to trudge through several minutes that should have been left on the cutting room floor, including the last third of “Reigning in Ruin” and the entire outro “Oderint Dum Metuant.”

I picked up Verminous Contempt expecting Foetal Juice, but was instead treated to an impressive mix of some of metal’s meanest sounds. Like being blindsided with a brick, Plague Curse comes out swinging and, with the exception of a couple of competent slowdowns, never lets up. Between noteworthy vocals and frenetic yet controlled instrumentation, Verminous Contempt is an enjoyable and easily consumed album. On their debut, Plague Curse establish themselves as a vicious but accessible contender in blackened death circles. With a more enthusiastic scalpel and a little more attention paid to instrumental passages, Plague Curse could easily be a future cornerstone of the genre.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Adirondack Black Mass
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: October 10th, 2025

#2025 #35 #AdirondackBlackMass #Archspire #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #BoltThrower #BurdenOfYmir #CattleDecapitation #DeathMetal #FoetalJuice #Immolation #InternationalMetal #LIK #MentalCruelty #MorbidAngel #Oct25 #Pestilence #PlagueCurse #Review #Reviews #SepticFlesh #SpectralWound #Suffocation #VerminousContempt #Watain

Gerade angekündigt, am 17. Oktober: C.C.Estrés (FRESH LION) Album Release + Persé + JTEKK + Nutz an den Cutz + Julia Gröschel + Fritz in scheune Blechschloss!
Infos, Sounds & Tickets (5/10/15€): https://scheune.org/show/5097/c-c-estrs-fresh-lion-album-release.html

#scheunedresden #ccestres #freshlion #scheuneblechschloss #lik #lionity #leolibral #leoquality #persemusik #jtekk #nutzandencutz #juliagröschel #fritzfriederich1990 #konzertdresden #dresdenkonzert #neustadtkultur #dresdenmusic #dresdenmusik #musikindresden #klubnetzdresden

New & Noteworthy: April’s flood of new music with UNATØNED, Necro, Aspiral (4/25/2025 – 4/11/2025):

#New&Noteworthy #AprilReleases #Epica #MachineHead #Ghost #Lik #Wednesday13

Link: https://metalinsider.net/columns/new-noteworthy-columns/new-noteworthy-aprils-flood-of-new-music-with-unatoned-necro-aspiral-4-25-2025-4-11-2025

Die schwedischen Death Metaller LIK haben ihr neues Video zu „Deceased“ veröffentlicht. Der Track stammt vom gerade erschienenen "Necro"-Album.
„Das ist der Eröffnungstrack des Albums und eine totale Hommage an Entombed. Er hat alles von Mid-Tempo bis hin zu Skank Beats. Textlich geht es um einen Typen, der versucht, von den Toten zurückzukehren, um seinen Tod zu rächen.“ Hört mal rein!
#lik #DeathMetal

https://www.burnyourears.de/news/54505-deather-lik-veroeffentlichen-„deceased“-video.html

Interview: LIK

LIK play Swedish old school death metal as it was meant to be played. We are all lucky that on Friday 18th April, LIK release their fourth album, entitled Necro, through Metal Blade Records and it gave Ricky of Moshville Times the opportunity to speak to guitarist/vocalist Tomas about all things LIK, Necro and playing live.

Be sure to pick this album up when it is released and reminisce

https://www.moshville.co.uk/interview/2025/04/interview-lik/

#Interviews #LIK

Lik – Necro Review

By El Cuervo

Lik have become a low-key favorite among the old school death metal nerds of Angry Metal Guy. Mass Funeral Evocation is one of stronger debuts from the last decade, while Carnage doubled down on its strengths. While I personally found Misanthrophic Breed less compelling, it had fans among other writers. And besides two albums of great (and one album of average) death metal, Lik have also gifted me one of the coolest experiences of my life: the immortal Mikael Stanne fist-bumping me as I donned one of their shirts at 70000 Tons of Metal. It was therefore with high expectations that I embarked on this review.

At its core, Necro remains an old school death metal album. The spectres of Entombed and Dismember loom heavily over Lik; such is the lot of all Swedish metalheads indulging in a spot of the necrophiliac arts. But recent years have also found the troupe eagerly devouring the corpse of In Flames, if buried in their 90s heyday. “War Praise” opens with a machine-gunning lead you might expect from an early 90s death metal record, but this swiftly gives way to a shredding lick that caps the song’s introduction and acts as an instrumental quasi-chorus. The shredding guitar tone skips over the harshness of At the Gates and bee-lines straight for the relative clarity of their more melodic comparators. It’s just a brief taster of a melodic sound that will recur later on the album. Make no mistake; this is still death metal of the blood-spattered variety. But the melodic punch belies a group casting their deathly gaze away from their Stockholm roots towards Gothenburg on the other side of the country.

As if to assuage any trepidation of existing fans concerned about “melody” or “hooks” (forgetting, of course, that Lik have always favored hooks, even if heavy ones), the vast majority of the ten tracks here prioritize the fusion of bludgeoning rhythms and scything melodies that is unique to Swedish death metal. Though Necro may have a melodic knack, the savage bite of its guitars always comes first. “Worms Inside” features a particularly fast and brutal opening, leading with a riff that bulges like a vein on the verge of explosion. And “Shred into Pieces” almost has the speed and relentlessness of grindcore. The energetic vocalist barks through ridiculous lyrics that are as violent as they are depraved, while the drums sound more powerful than ever as they’re presented more prominently in the mix than previously. Lik manifest a never-ending pursuit of exciting, energetic music, and their morgue-defiling enthusiasm is infectious.

Besides the judicious injection of melody through cleaner guitar tones and/or harmonizing guitars, Necro further demonstrates a song-writing hand that’s beginning to develop from pure, old school death metal. “Morgue Rat” opens with a purring bass and techy leads, but later orients around the rhythmic, expressive vocals, its lyrics dripping with blood and semen. While they begin in guttural territory, the back half progresses to a blacker, witchy shriek. Likewise, an unexpected mid-song interlude lends an air of intrigue and re-energizes the song for its finale. “In Ruins” is the most expansive track here; it deliberately shuffles a slower, doomy introduction, frenzied solos, pulsating rhythms, and harmonized shouts into a song that feels more than the sum of these parts. This and “Rotten Inferno” feel more thoughtful and varied as they frequently switch gears and escape the trappings of a verse/chorus structure.

Necro is a fundamentally sound album. It does what all good old school death metal albums do by focusing on razor-sharp leads, lo-fi production,n and energetic song-writing. It’s impossible to be a fan of death metal and not enjoy Lik. So why no better than a 3.5? I still feel that the sharpest edges in the Lik discography are in the past; Necro just isn’t as joyous or memorable as Mass Funeral Evocation or Carnage. Although it strives to expand the core sounds it uses, it isn’t so good as to escape the trappings of a sound that’s already been heard many times over. I didn’t necessarily expect more, but I had hoped the newfound development might push the band a little further.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps MP3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: likofficial.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/lik
Releases Worldwide: April 18th, 2025

#2025 #35 #Apr25 #AtTheGates #DeathMetal #Dismember #Entombed #InFlames #LIK #Necro #Review #Reviews #SwedishMetal

Wombbath – Beyond the Abyss Review

By Alekhines Gun

Swedish death is metal for crackheads; a tired, well trodden sound, with fanatics and devout followers always finding room for “just one more” illustration of the genre. It’s almost impossible to find a review of any modern album that doesn’t inevitably cite Dismember and Entombed as touchstones and reference points, crafting the illusion that there’s nothing left to offer from such established and boundary-setting aural paintings. Fortunately, a few bands carry the Swedeath torch with pride, and chief amongst them is Wombbath. Certified OG’s of the 90s heyday, they’ve had a major renaissance after reuniting back in 2013, set apart by genre experimentation and straight excellence of songcraft. Our beloved Holdeneye has sung their praises on several occasions, but with his attention focused elsewhere, I’ve leapt at the chance to get that mani-pedi that only the Swedes know how to provide. I hope you brought shampoo…

As is Swedeath tradition, the first thing to expect is the generally expected. The guitar tones still buzz with a familiarity like a warm blanket, HM-2 tones carrying out riffy assaults that seem pulled straight from the 90s while feeling refreshingly modern and immediate. Tracks like “Beyond the Abyss” and “Symphony of Dread” flow from Vomitory-infused bounce to the most melodic of At the Gates pomp, with theatricality and violence walking hand in hand. Wombbath exceed at stylistic song craft, slicing and dicing their way from chorus to solo to city leveling chug in equal measure where the aural excess never dominates the excellence of composition. A great track order allows Beyond the Abyss to carry the listener on an aural journey, from the pit ripper of an opening to the doom-laced plodding closer with ebbs and flows of speed, weight, and engagement without ever allowing fatigue or boredom to set in.

While familiarity is part and parcel with the subgenre, Wombbath continue to paint with the most vibrant of colors. Many songs come with violin flourishes and interludes, provided by guitarist Thomas von Wachenfeldt. While not quite going the way of Ne Obliviscaris, such flourishes permeate the album, letting the doomy flow of “Consumed by Fire” or the atmospheric laden “Deep Hunger” shine with sparkle and personality. Beyond the Abyss isn’t content to merely cause heads to bang off torsos or trigger air guitar-related arthritis, though both symptoms are to be found in ample measure. Bells, synths, choirs, a smattering of clean vocals, all frosting and sprinkles on a very deathly cupcake manage to set this release apart with its own character and flavor beyond being “merely” more Swedish death, and all without a dose of gimmickries or inauthentic utilization to be found.

The only downside to such a uniformly well-composed album is the peculiar lack of lethality in tone. Wombbath trade stock in the required chainsaw guitars, but these chords rev with that of an electric-powered rather than gasoline fueled machine. This causes otherwise excellent moments to pass by with less than their deserved impact, with moments like “Faces of Tragedy” – sporting a stank face inducing chuggathon worthy of modern Cannibal Corpse – suffering the most. Swedeath this aggressive and artistic is a rare treat, and when I find it, I want my speakers to tremble in terror. Instead, the tone sounds more akin to the most recent Frozen Soul, where excellent riffs give way to a more gentle presentation when a dose of bloodthirst is warranted. Fortunately, this complaint is abetted as the album progresses, but it still feels like a lost opportunity to give such fantastic riffs the last push they need to make a modern-day classic.

Wombbath continue their streak of excellence in execution with nary a clinker or dud to be found. Feral might be more violent and Lik more immediate and Grave more atmospheric, but Beyond the Abyss stands ready to remind any and all that, in the words of our Angry Overlord, at the end of the day death metal still rules the roost. Trimming down the album length to a reasonable runtime1 and keeping the tonal palate refreshed and vibrant with instrumental diversity has paid major dividends, cementing the band as modern-day forerunners of a founding father genre. If you’re still counting down the years till the hopeful and hypothetical new Dismember album, or if your affections for the genre have run stale in a world filled with Entombed clones, Wombbath are here to remind the world that the genre is still filled with vibrancy and potential. Hop on in! The womb water’s fine…..

Rating: 3.5/5
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Pulverized Records
Websites: pulverised.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-abyss | facebook.com/wombbathofficial
Releases Worldwide: March 14th, 2025

#2025 #35 #AtTheGates #BeyondTheAbyss #CannibalCorpse #DeathMetal #Dismember #Entombed #Feral #FrozenSoul #Grave #LIK #Mar25 #NeObliviscaris #PulverizedRecords #Review #Reviews #SwedishDeathMetal #Vomitory #Wombbath