Two of Peru’s most deviant and abhorrent extreme metal bands join forces for an all out massacre with the release of their new split, “Satanic Union from the South.” Putrid and Grave Desecration combine their sinister musical powers to launch an attack upon the metal world that shall open up gateways into an endless realms of unfathomable annihilation.
This split is a nonstop joyride of skull pounding aggression and pestilent sounding instrumental compositions. Putrid and Grave Desecration are both solid acts that I have reviewed before in the past, so I am quite familiar with what these bands can deliver. I do not know what it is about the extreme music community down in Peru, but their passion to create such profoundly evil sounding releases is something I’ve always noticed and respected.
The first half of the split features three tracks from Putrid, all of which are haunting pieces full of hateful sounding old school death metal mixed with some ruthless black metal. The band’s first song, “Chaos Baphomet,” is a raw and unapologetic assault that highlights this band’s blasphemous vision that continues to win me over. On the next two tracks, “A Broken God” and “Angels Blood,” you hear more merciless sounding old school death metal like guitar riffs and deafening drums parts. Putrid has always demonstrated a savage and uncompromising nature that really stands out when listening to their recordings. Listening to Putrid is like walking through an infernal wasteland where darkness lurks around every corner ready to consume your soul.
Grave Desecration finishes the split off with three of their own monstrous sounding recordings. “Infierno En El Desierto,” “Sucias Perras” and “Eterna Crucifixión,” are ravenous offerings of vile sounding blackened torment. The guitar riffs conjure up this malevolent energy that comes screaming through the speakers like a bloodthirsty ghoul. Also, the vocals compliment the sacrilegious sounding musical environment by strengthen the overall demonic sounding instrumental onslaught. When you get down the core of it, Grave Desecration leaves a pathway of musical carnage on each track and makes their hellish presence felt on this release.
I think this is yet another solid effort from two bands that live and breath extreme sounding music. “Satanic Union from the South,” is an appropriate title for this split, because both bands share a similar mindset when it comes to creating raw and terrifying music. If you are a fan of underground extreme metal music then you really need to check this release out. Both bands do not come off as gimmicky, or have that Whole Foods hipster black metal sound. Actually, this is the type of music that would melt the face off of a hipster and sending them running around in a chaotic frenzy. We need more bands like Putrid and Grave Desecration to show people how it is done and less bands that claim to be “kvlt” even though their music sounds like a pile of piss soaked garbage.
If you were to ask me to name a current band that is raw, unforgiving and down right brutal, then I would definitely give Pathetic as my answer. The band reminds me of wrestling legend Terry Funk, because just like Terry Funk the musicians in Pathetic are true metal maniacs that hold nothing back. Their full-length album that came out last year called, "Rat King," is a gruesome offering of blood thirsty savage old school death metal. The band's bassist/vocalist, AJ Kovar, who also plays bass for the legendary Canadian speed metal band, Witches Hammer, took the time to answer some questions I had for him regarding Pathetic, Witches Hammer and other projects he is currently working on. Here is the full interview below:
Q: Hello AJ, thanks for taking the time to do this interview and answer some questions. How are things going up in Canada?
Things are going great! I just moved to the west coast. Soaking up the sun.
Q: Before I get into talking about Pathetic, Witches Hammer and some of your other musical projects, I thought about getting some background info about your local music scene. When did you first start getting involved in the local scene? How has the scene evolved over the years?
I played in a band with the Pathetic drummer Duncan early on doing heavy metal thrash, played shitty all ages shows. Then discovered another local band that was playing in bars for awhile that I joined called Reverend Kill, which was actually one of the bands that original Witches Hammer bassist Steve Withrow played in. About 7 years later, Spencer, a long time friend had been playing in Reverend Kill also, and at some point in 2015/2016 we decided to quit to make more evil hateful music and formed Pathetic. The scene when I started sucked, it was full of metalcore and turned into a an influx of bad metal revival bands and is still a pile of shit with a few diamonds in the rough. Over the years I've learned that scenes are useless and hold you back, or give a band the false idea of being some local bar metal heroes. The idea of Pathetic was always to be an international act and it shouldn't matter how engaged we are locally in my opinion at this stage of the game. Especially with the internet making it easy to network. Our scene is now bands and like minded people all over the world.
Q: Now I was introduced to Pathetic through your split with Putrid that I reviewed here for the blog, but you guys had been putting out material prior to that split. When did Pathetic first form? What was the early years of the band like?
We formed between 2015 and 2016 as what was going to be a flash in the pan project with Spencer on drums and me on guitar and the more we got pissed off with our previous band the more it developed into a real serious thing. The influences back then were very basic, make music and lyrics that make people turn their heads in absolute disgust. We listened to lots of old New York death metal like Incantation and Immolation as well as war metal such as Archgoat, Blasphemy and riffing black metal like GBK and Svolder. When Duncan joined on because we decided it just made sense given we were all friends for so long, we recorded the first demo release and just never looked back
Q: When you came to visit the Bay Area last year you were beyond nice enough to give me a few Pathetic releases, one of those being the album, “The Dawn of Stupidity.” I was wondering if you could reflect upon that release and what was it like recording that album? I definitely hear early elements of what would translate over onto your later releases.
Like I said earlier the first half of that album has a very New York death metal influence behind it especially in the production. I still say it's almost a bigger production than some of our later stuff .We all had inadequate living arrangements at the time so we were rehearsing on electronic drum kits and practice pads till it came to record the album in my parent's basement. The use of samples came into play, also which was something we never used before in bands. It was a fun album to record we just didn't really know what to expect from it. The second half of that album is actually our 2nd album Blatant Retardation which starts with Black sun. We will be be recording every song in the second half throughout time. Similar to how Suffocation redoes all of Breeding the Spawn one song per album.
Q: Last year Pathetic released, “Rat King,” which I consider to be one of best extreme metal releases to come out that year. What are your thoughts about the album? What was the recording process like?
The process for that was interesting as I was working in the arctic for weeks at a time. So a lot of the songs were written alone and then shown to those guys when I came back or vice versa for Spencer's songs. "Going Postal," was one of the first songs we actually wrote together. Whereas before Spencer and I would write individually. It was also the first release we recorded 100% on our own without engineering help. The last half of the Dawn of Stupidity compilation (Blatant Retardation) is a horrible recording and the result of just things not working in the studio. We learned then we have to do it on our own to do it right. The guy who recorded us is a great friend we just needed to learn how to do things on our own also for the reason of time and not rushing things under studio pressure.
Q: Do you have any new Pathetic releases in the works and can you maybe give some details about what listeners can expect to hear on the new albums?
We have just released a concept album on the genocides occurred in the Ottoman Empire around WW1. It's called "Cleansing The Land of the Infidel". We plan on releasing it as a double CD album with another we have recorded called "The Pestilence Born of Unclean Acts." We also have a split coming out after with a black metal band from Quebec called Glorious Sarcofagik Desecration. They are just absolutely sick.
Q: For those who might not be aware, you also play bass in the iconic Canadian speed metal band Witches Hammer. When did you first start playing in Witches Hammer and how did the opportunity arise?
Having to learn the bass lines on the first Reverend Kill release introduced me to Steve Withrows incredible playing and also into his previous works which included Witches Hammer. I had conjured up a copy of the Canadian speed metal demo and absolutely was enthralled. I had known Marco through playing gigs with his band Tyrants Blood and I also knew Ray Prizmic through a former punk band he sang in briefly called the Epitomees. When I heard the band was to reform it only made sense to audition for it, understanding the uniqueness of Steve's bass playing and how much of a fan I was of the band. Couple years ago I just drove up in the middle of winter and it has been going great ever since. The other two members of the band Steve Sinned and Jesse I knew from their band Assimilation as well as their previous bands Red Kahn and Sinned.
Q: I was going ask because you and I were messaging each other a while back and you had told me that you are working on a new project. What is this new project called and can we expect to hear some material from it soon?
I cannot divulge the name of it on here, but I'm sure you will find out about it haha, it is 80s black death which basically I would say its very influenced by Bathory, Sarcofago, Von, early Blasphemy, Repulsion, Necrovore pre Altars era Morbid Angel. Just a fun piece of music I am doing for myself with the help of a couple friends. Plan on doing more musical projects not intended for live use as the years go on. I just enjoy making music.
Q: Looking to the future, which can be challenging right now with a global pandemic and turmoil around almost every corner of the planet, what are some of your musical goals? I find that you are a truly dedicated and hard working extreme metal musician, so I am interested in hearing what you want to accomplish on your future releases?
Honestly I think the best way to navigate these times is just to keep things relevant by putting music out regularly. All the scene drama and posturing by playing live shows with shitty bands or political nutcases means absolutely nothing and is a waste of time, if you don't have music to show for it. I think true metal needs to be pushed back underground and things that were once in the underground are now mainstream and its extremely lame. Maybe its good if it will be harder for bands to survive. It has been too easy for someone to just make a demo invite all their friends to a gig and be the next neighborhood Metallica for a week. I long for the days of discovery and obscurity in the 80s that I never got to experience.
Q: AJ, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and stay safe during these crazy times. Hopefully when this is all over you can tour out here in the Bay Area, because I think the metal community in the Bay would appreciate hearing some monstrous brutality that I know you and the other guys in Pathetic can deliver.
Thanks for the interview Robert. Always excellent chatting with you! Thanks for your questions and I hope to get more music in your hands every year!
Check Pathetic's most recent release "Cleansing the Land of the Infidel" below:
Pathetic's new album, “Cleansing the Land of the Infidel,” is a historical account of unspeakable atrocities during the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Using their merciless and raw death metal talents, the band is able to record a concept album that highlights some of the most despicable crimes ever perpetrated in human history.
I have been watching this Canadian trio for a few years now and must say that their ability to build-off the momentum from their previous releases is extremely impressive. I don’t know how, but Canadian rock and metal bands seem to have this ambitious nature about them to where each new release gets better and better. Last year Pathetic released their debut full-length album, “Rat King,” which was a pure savage cannibal like slaughter fest of putrid sounding death metal. On, “Cleansing the Land of the Infidel,” they keep that same mentality, however, they also incorporate a variety of extreme sounding elements to craft a dynamic album. The speed metal riffs provide a frantic touch, while the slower gruesome death metal sections leave a battle field of thunderous sounding damnation.
The album begins with a composition called, “Death of an Empire Part 1,” that makes you feel like you are marching straight into an abysmal world that has been ravaged by war. Eventually the music takes a drastic turn and guitarist Spencer Kraft starts laying down blistering lead guitar parts while bassist AJ Kovar and drummer Duncan Chisholm maintain a fearsome rhythm section. This is where the more speed metal like riffs really gives the album a scorching flare of aggression that continues to transpire throughout the album.
Overall, the band builds an atmosphere of pure chaos which one would expect to accompany lyrical themes about the Armenian Genocide. Songs like, “Cleansing the Land of the Infidel,” “Famine on Mount Lebanon,” and “Raping Assyria,” are venomous cuts of brutality that never lose that malevolent sounding momentum. I have heard some bands that talk about writing songs about historical atrocities and end up creating a musical atrocity by writing completely boring riffs and recording piss poor vocals. Pathetic completely nails every aspect that a fan of extreme music could want when writing a war themed album.
The ending track, “A Nation is Born,” serves as a calming outro and features Spencer’s diverse lead guitar approach. Another area of this album that stood out to me was the lead guitar playing and how the parts were recorded. I know some players wish to record clean and fluid sweep picking leads, but on this album that would not work and you needed something a bit more raw. Again, I like Pathetic’s sound because they are not going for a pristine sounding album. Simply put, the recording quality matched the band’s destructive musical vision and unforgiving attitude.
If you want an extreme metal album that throws in some haunting historical themes, then you definitely want to check out, “Cleansing the Land of the Infidel.” I think that kids might actually learn more about history from death metal music than what they are teaching in some of the schools nowadays. All those people who think extreme metal music is a bad influence on children fail to see the educational value it can provide. Yes people, I think we need more metal music in schools and I might start lobbying for it.
Void Rot’s debut full-length album, “Descending Pillars,” is an abysmal vision into a world of bludgeoning death metal shrouded in a blanket of unfathomable darkness. The unforgiving nature of this album is extremely impressive, along with the haunting atmospheric elements woven into the explosive instrumental carnage.
Hailing from Minneapolis, MN, Void Rot sets out to unleash devastation upon the metal world with their first full-length release. Their colossal sounding mixture of old school primitive death metal and bone chilling doom is what makes this album a rather unique and fascinating listening experience. Void Rot definitely proves to be a band that does not slap together generically written songs, because when you listen to the entire album you hear a vicious synergy and the music seamlessly transitions between each song.
The opening song, “Descending Pillars,” builds up this monumental dominion full of fearsome sounding riffs and grotesque death growls. Each instrument delivers a devastating blow to the overall musical landscape, thus creating an apocalyptic wasteland of horrifying death doom. On the next two tracks, “Upheaval” and “Liminal Forms,” the band keeps painting this bleak and lightless sounding realm where the drums and guitar parts become almost hypnotic as the music evolves. You actually feel possessed by the sheer brutality of all the instruments, as well as the hellish sounding vocals.
I feel that the second half of the album actually sounded more catastrophic at times and the band’s dynamic mindset really stood out. The best example would be the track, “The Weight of a Thousand Suns,” which is a short instrumental piece that lulls you through this calming hypnotic atmosphere. Eventually as the composition ends the band unleashes a cosmic explosion of vitriolic aggression, which then takes you into the final song off of the album. “Monolith (Descending Pillars Pt. II),” finishes the album up with a harrowing atmosphere of unfathomable death doom. The song is arguably one of the strongest sounding conclusions to an album I have heard this year.
Void Rot proves to be a band that does not wish to waste an opportunity when recording a monstrous sounding album. “Descending Pillars,” is going to come crashing down upon the metal community like a landslide of unspeakable destruction. Again, these musicians understood how to write an album from start to finish, because once you hear the first song, there is no escaping the hellacious sounding void that begins to surround you as the album progresses. Escape shall be futile once the pillars Void Rot has constructed begin to descend upon you ears!
Check out the song "Descending Pillars" below. Also, album comes out September 11th and can be purchased through Sentient Ruin and Everlasting Spew (Links below video) :
Listening to Decoherence is like flying a spacecraft straight into a black hole of infinite unworldly chaos and in the process losing all your sanity. The band’s style of black metal mixed with terrifying industrial elements is an extremely potent blend of vicious mind-altering music. Their sophomore release, “Unitarity,” is another journey into the cosmic gateway of unpredictable and volatile sounding landscapes that fans were introduced to on the band's debut album, "Ekpyrosis."
This multinational extreme metal act teams up with Sentient Ruin once again to unleash a blistering album full of hellish creativity that few artists are able to convey in such compelling fashion. The band’s debut album was an unbelievable effort that demonstrated an erratic, yet determined band looking to carve their own bloody mark into the extreme metal world by presenting a unique blend of blackened sounding terror.
The first song off of the album, “Final Boundary State,” is a merciless assault of aural terrorism and comes crashing through the speakers like a tsunami of raw distortion. I was instantly drawn to the band's savage guitar work as well as the monstrous drum parts. The band’s vocalist adds to the nightmarish sounding musical landscape by providing some tormenting growls that echo with great disgust across the cataclysmic arrangements. Track number two, “Equilibrium Unreached,” is another ruthless piece of music containing even more menacing riffs of inhumane nature. As the song progresses the band seems to thrive on the music's diabolical energy, thus allowing them to fiendishly construct even more abhorrent compositions.
Another area of this album that stands out is when the band incorporates these tranquil atmospheric moments that eventually transition into a firestorm of blackened industrial devastation. Songs like, “Metastable Phase Transition” and “Remnants,” begin with such mesmerizing sounding arrangements that soon become washed away in an avalanche of paralyzing guitars and ear shattering drums. Some bands try to do this style and end up making a flaming heap of instrumental trash, while Decoherence skillfully constructs these wicked pieces of mind-bending brutality.
Once again, Decoherence conjures forth a sinister release that twists the minds and decimates the ears of all those who desire some malevolent sounding music. This group is yet another Sentient Ruin band that understands what is necessary to make a quality sounding release that leaves an impact on the listener. While some black metal bands just put on the corpse paint and crank out the same generic riff structures to the point of sheer obnoxiousness, Decoherence takes you on a blackened space odyssey into a starless void of indescribable celestial horror. Now that is something we can all get behind, otherwise you can be tied to a rocket and launched into space!
Creating a musical world absent of any lyrical content allows for an artist to place great emphasis each and every sound when recording an album. Htor is an acoustic ambient project based out of Canada that uses the natural world for inspiration in forming vibrant and solemn compositions where the acoustic guitar leads listeners through a celestial forest of endless wonder.
“Primitive Demonstrations,” is a release that I find shares a similar mentality to that of atmospheric black metal by pulling listeners into a musical realm of unconventional, yet mesmerizing sounds. Like some of your current ambient, dungeon synth and atmospheric black metal acts, Htor experiments with compositions that are not overly complicated in terms of technicality, but instead focuses on strong emotional sounding arrangements.
I think the acoustic arrangements on this album are thoughtfully crafted and they never lose their luster as the music evolves throughout the album. Honestly, the album’s overall ambience and production really stands out to where you always feel drawn into this fascinating world of calming sounds that truly make you feel as though you are gazing across magnificent vast forest far from the prison like confines of suburbia.
The opening track, “Going Back,” introduces listeners to the artist’s creative vision and gives a glimpse into what is to be heard going forward. I think the album flows with great synergy compared to some ambient releases I have listened to over the years, which is a very important factor I look for when reviewing. I tend become agitated when an artist just slams together a cluster of instrumental pieces that sound completely bipolar and chaotically composed.
As the album progresses with songs like, “Sol Deau” and “An Ageless Face in the Forest,” you hear the music’s emotional drive start to pick up at times with different tempos and chord progressions. I think my favorite song off of the album is, “On a Rainy Day,” because I thought the acoustic guitar arrangement created a powerful soundscape that transitioned towards the end into a solemn conclusion. You can feel the notes of the acoustic guitar echo out like drops of rain as they fall amongst a sea of lush green trees.
I believe, “Primitive Demonstrations” is an album highly worth checking out, mainly because this is an album that was thoughtfully put together. I have been reviewing enough by now to tell when an album was tossed together to make a band feel like they are still relevant, or is an attempt for a local band to pump their chests amongst the local scene. In the case of Htor, this is an artist looking to express their creative visions through ambient pathways of amazing acoustic riff structures. Artistic integrity and honest musical expression is hard to come by these days, which is sad because there are plenty of phenomenal acts out there working hard. People just need to do their research, or they really need to listen to me when I tell them to check out a certain band!
As Drayton Sawyer once said in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, “There's no secret. It's the meat. Don't skimp on the meat. I got a real good eye for prime meat.” In this case, Writhing Shadows does not skimp when crafting brutal and bloodthirsty sounding old school death metal riffs. These Alabama-based death metal musicians deliver a slaughterhouse of vicious tracks on their debut EP, “Flesh Magic of the Haruspex.”
Unlike some of death metal bands that write songs about entrails and unspeakable carnage, Writhing Shadows is able to construct strong compositions that leave an impact on the listener. They do not fall into the gimmicky recycled riff category and the riffs are extremely explosive in terms of delivery, which I would compare to that of bands like Bolt Thrower, Suffocation and Immolation. The four tracks featured on this debut release are extremely unforgiving and convey that old school death metal mentality.
The first song on the release, “Veins of Prophecy,” begins with a deafening blow of unapologetic force and the drummer turns up the aggression by laying down a hellacious rhythm. Everything sounds well produced and the recording quality is rather impressive, especially considering this being the band’s debut EP. From the gruesome guitar riffs to the monstrous sounding vocals, there is a strong cohesive energy that flows throughout the song. On the second track, “Cursed Entrails,” they keep that same musical mindset, while also changing tempo to unleash a slower more doom like composition towards the end of the song.
The last two songs on the EP, “Severed Limbs Reflect” and “Dissected by Fate,” are a couple tormenting pieces of hateful sounding mid-tempo death metal. I thought, “Severed Limbs Reflected,” featured a very sinister yet catchy main riff that complimented the song’s overall theme. On the last track, “Dissected by Fate,” I really enjoyed hearing the slower guitar and bass parts. I thought the bass parts during the song injected some raw low end terror into the mix and really amplified that haunting death doom style.
In the death metal world there are endless bands who write songs about the gory side of the human anatomy, however, I always believe you need to weed out the ones who are not able to write their way out of a body bag. Writhing Shadows proves to be a band that thoughtfully writes and records their tracks, while not taking shortcuts in an attempt to pedal a brutal image. In my opinion, the music comes first because you can have the most horrendous sounding songs titles, but no one will listen if the guitar riffs sound like shit.
Album comes out 8/21/2020 and you can pre-order through Gurgling Gore here:
