DIPYGUS
DIPYGUS “Dipygus”
By Dr. Abner Mality
DIPYGUS once more crawl from Hell’s septic tank to spew more of their filthy death metal. I first encountered them on their last record “Bushmeat” and was appalled yet attracted to their rank and raw style that dealt lyrically with cryptid creatures and lethal diseases. How does this self-titled follow up rate with that prior album?
One thing’s for sure and that’s that DIPYGUS hasn’t cleaned up their sound any. Fans of AUTOPSY and NECROPHAGIA will dig this a lot...those looking for OBSCURA or ARCHSPIRE vibes can vacate the premises with haste. But this new album is also longer, bigger and ultimately, it does experiment more while still remaining true to the scummy core of DIPYGUS. The most obvious shift is the 11 minute plus “Sacral Brain”, which had me fearing the band going all “jazz odyssey” like the most recent TOMB MOLD. There’s a lot of psychedelic guitar soloing going on here and there are also some strange analog synth sounds blending with the sick riffs. But at all times, this is DEATH METAL and you are always reminded of that fact.
The album starts with its most basic attack in “Perverse Termination” and then gradually begins to subtly add some new layers from there. I was a bit disappointed in the first couple of tracks, but it didn’t take long for the record to grow on me like mold on a crypt wall. “The Dover Demon”, dealing with one of my favorite cryptid creatures, is delightfully weird and woozy, lurching through a fog of hazy riffing and creepy synth sounds. “Monrovia LR 1990” and “Ross Sea Trawler” just flat out bulldoze your skull.
I think it’s safe to say that DIPYGUS will never clean up their act...for which we can all be grateful.