PESTILENGTH
PESTILENGTH “Solar Clorex”
By Dr. Abner Mality
I’ve been eagerly awaiting this one since I clapped ears on PESTILENGTH’s last sonic abomination, the twisted slab of filth known as “Basom Gryphos”. The mysterious Basques have returned with something that shows a lot of evolution yet still manages to create a Lovecraftian atmosphere of cosmic nihility.
“Solar Clorex” is a tad cleaner in the mix, but that’s like saying there’s a couple of spades of dirt are missing from the landfill. This record is VERY thick and sludgy when it wants to be and that’s plain on the opening slavo of “Intraexsanguination/ Neerv”. As you can see, the band’s predilection for strange nonsense phrases remains intact. This first tune is very clever, because it features the cavernous death-doom and the insane war blast we expect from PESTILENGTH. That being established, the band then proceed to subvert those expectations with experimentation. The pace of the album is slower on the whole, but not quite to the point where it can be called true death-doom.
“Occlusive” starts like a rampaging sonofabitch, but slows into dissonant twang. “Enthronos Wormwomb” is where things get seriously fucked with a whirlpool-like riff that swirls and recedes like the tide. One thing is for sure...there’s no clean vocals here. “Singing” ranges from basement-level croaks to gasping wheezes to deranged jabber. “Enthronos Wormwomb” finally ends with bleak but mellow chords...the anticipated return to heaviness never comes.
As the album continues, I detect an influence from BLUT AUS NORD creeping into the PESTILENGTH milieu. Last two cuts “Choir of None” and “Verbalist Aphonee” are both slower, more warped, more off-kilter. It is more “atonal” than “dissonant”, if that makes sense. This is where the wheezing, gasping vocals take over. The end result is that “Solar Clorex” is not more “extreme” than “Basom Gryphos”, but it definitely is weirder and creates more of an oppressive, unearthly mood. If that’s what PESTILENGTH was after, they achieved it.
This band is going to be a force in the specialized world of batshit crazy death metal. Wonder how far they can take this…