The debut self-titled album from French extreme metal monstrosity, Maudissez, is an unholy juggernaut of a release that unleashes such a malicious death doom/sludge sound that the Notre-Dame Catheral might collapse from the unfathomably devastating sonic force.
Recorded originally in 2023, Maudissez is teaming up with Sentient Ruin to make this album available for extreme metal enthusiasts all across the world to hear and purchase on vinyl. I am not surprised Maudissez is working with Sentient Ruin, because this band perfectly compliments the label’s diabolic extreme music ethos. Sentient Ruin is a label that prides itself on delivering some of the most unapologetic and sonically decimating underground acts from all around the globe, and Maudissez’s definitely delivers some inhumanly destructive compositions on this debut album.
In all honesty, there have been plenty of bands that have made heavy sounding music and have criticized the christian religion, however I will give Maudissez credit for crafting a very monstrous and surrealistic sounding arrangements to compliment their sacrilegious themes. There are some dissonant elements thrown in which creates these nightmare inducing atmospheres like on the opening song, “Fracture par Fracture.” The album’s opening track begins with a mighty barrage of deafening blast beats and savage riffs, but eventually slows down for a more ominous sounding arrangement. I actually liked the drumming throughout this album as the rhythms helped give the music a very sadistic and primordial vibe when needed.
For an album featuring only four tracks in total, the band meticulously explores the inhumanely brutal musical landscapes by conjuring up some extremely vivid sounding compositions. Some of the riffs on the second track, “Blessure par Blessure,” really stood when I first listened to the song, especially the one sludgy doom riff that kicks in the four minute mark. After listening to the dissonant and malevolent noises at the beginning of the song, I liked the transition to this hypnotic doom like riff section. Of course, the band goes back into the abyss of sheer mind shattering terror for the song’s finale, but I understand that they wanted to have a surrealistic sounding conclusion to an already insanely entropic piece of music.
The other two tracks, “Meurtrissure par Meurtrissure” and “Brûlure par Brûlure,” are very bombastic sounding as well, and without any doubt display a tremendous level of nihilistic brutality. “Brûlure par Brûlure,”is probably the song that stands out the most on this album, mainly due to the fact that the ending sounds like the Gates of Hell are opening and all the demons are coming through the gateway in search of human souls to defile. The eerie tempo, evil organ music and cries of agony in the background, really pain this vivid picture in your mind as you become engulfed by the apocalyptic noises coming at you from all different directions.
In the end, I must credit Maudissez for coming up with one uniquely profane extreme metal release, especially considering that this is their first album. The entire album is actually very well produced and the songwriting paints an utterly surreal and hellacious sounding story, even if I did get lost in those moments of gratuitous distorted chaos like on the second track. This is definitely an album worth checking out if you are fan of death doom, sludge metal or downright deafening music. Actually, I would really like to see Maudissez live, because the arrangements are so profoundly heavy that it would be amazing to see this up front and close. Although, I bet my ears would be ringing for days after seeing them live. Oh well, the experience would definitely be worth it!
Check out the entire release below:
Sentient Ruin Bandcamp:
