VIOGRESSION

VIOGRESSION     “Thaumaturgic Veil”

By Dr. Abner Mality

Milwaukee’s VIOGRESSION are still out there recording vital new music more than 30 years after their inception and for that, they deserve a lot of credit. They were right there in the early days of death metal and on their previous record “3rd Stage of Decay”, they created what might have been their best ever record, as Worm-scribe Theron Moore asserted in his review of that effort.

2025 brings us “Thaumaturgic Veil” and to my ears, it’s not quite the equal of “3rd Stage of Decay’, but it’s still an original and interesting take on death metal. Somehow these guys mix esoteric spiritual concepts and spaced out soundscapes with grimy, ugly old school death metal in the vein of OBITUARY and early DEATH. A look at the credits reveals a staggering 19 tracks here,  nine of which are brief linking instrumentals often brimming with guru-like anecdotes on time and infinity. In contrast, we get 10 cuts of swampy and raw death metal complete with gurgly Tardy-like vocals. Some of the notes accompanying the music have to be read to be believed. Tidbits like “viewing existence as a binary system shaped by vibrational frequencies...the core medium molded by individual intent”. I’ll take your word for it!

Ignoring the heady concepts behind the lyrics, we are left with the music, which is satisfying oldschool death metal that doesn’t quite cross the barrier to greatness. Tracks like “Pummeled”, “Eaten By Flies” and “Light Harvester” have brutal riffage and heft as well as a pleasingly murky sound. There are occasional bursts of surprising melody (“As The Light Fades”) but VIOGRESSION is firmly anchored in the classic death metal sound. Those looking for the kind of cosmicism found on BLOOD INCANTATION or recent TOMB MOLD will likely be somewhat disappointed.

“Thaumaturgic Veil” is another good original album by VIOGRESSION yet I think there is greater they can accomplish.

VIOGRESSION