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LIGATION “After Gods”
LIGATION “After Gods”
By: Lord Randall
LIGATION, formed by DARK BUDDHA RISING alumnus MN and MS of enthralling funeral doom entity PROFETUS, and now joined by TI of brutal death crew PUS, arrives with its full-length debut, “After Gods”
.A shagged-out doom groove strides in in the form of the title track, ghosts of DESULTORY (when they mattered) and GOREFEST’s “Mindloss” flitting around the corners. There’s already something unhinged at work here, be forewarned…slobbering death metal and chaos-reigning noise elements making an appearance, and we’re less than three minutes in.
On “Turmoil In Everest”,TI’s bass is robust in the same way as the slathering creature coming down from the peak to show you what real horror is about, while the drums of MN batter like avalanching car-sized chunks of ice and stone. If the section from 1:12-1:41 doesn’t make you question exactly what it is you’re listening to, you’re not doing it right. But don’t bother. You won’t figure it out. Just listen and absorb, kiddos. It only gets better from here.
Sludge tones permeate the album, nowhere more so than “Obscure Flame”, positively bile-soaked and churning, the guitars of MS tuned to almost bass tones, but when the gurgling, rancid “voice” of drummer MN scars its way through your earholes during the caustic latter 1/3 rd of the “tune”, the idea of UNSANE or KEELHAUL doing death metal becomes a dream near-realized in your ringing head.
‘“Eruption” spurts and sprays, gushing incendiary sonic lava from the bowels of the earth, referencing early DISMEMBER and IRON MONKEY in equal parts, destruction and the laying of waste the only laws. That is until – yep, you guessed it – the bottom drops out and the final minute or so becomes more like COIL’s landmark “How To Destroy Angels”.The album proper ends with the 9+ minute “Reflection”. Choral in moments to the point of liturgy, sluggish to the point of almost moving backwards, a trip through the nether regions of your mind never felt so cathartic. If this is what’s coming out after only three years of existence, “After Gods” will pale beside what comes next.
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