VRENTH

VRENTH ‘Succumb To Chaos”

By Dr. Abner Mality

On the surface, this appears to be just another in a long line of “cavernous” or “caveman” death metal records which erupt from the bowels of hell on a clockwork basis. But dig a little beneath that surface and you might just find there is more to VRENTH than first meets the eye.

To be sure, this has many of the aspects of primitive, oldschool death metal, including the grumbling vocals and thick, sewage-like guitar tones. And I’d be nuts to suggest this is a paradigm shift. But the songwriting is much more intricate than it first appears, partaking of some of the chaos of early MORBID ANGEL as well as the darkly ornate atmospheres of IMMOLATION. When the album is over, you suddenly realize you have heard 8 actual SONGS with different approaches. All while being bathed in the muck of pure, primitive death metal at its most underground.

Clap your ears on “Integrum Tenebrae”, for instance. This rivals the best and most intricate of IMMOLATION and boasts some really unique guitar tunings on the solos. It contrasts beautifully with the more doomy, INCANTATION-like track that precedes it, “Curse of the Living And Of The Dead”. Or how about “Contemptus Mundi”, which has more of that strange lead guitar in the midst of a track that hits like a CIANIDE-inspired battering ram? Final track “The End As A Shadow” is the longest and really gives VRENTH the opportunity to experiment with bleak atmospheres and the contrast between brutally fast and miserably slow.

It is more interesting than the typical “caveman” death metal album and shows some thought went into it. Even though it’s just as swampy and crazed as AUTOPSY. A real sleeper album here!

ROTTED LIFE RECORDS

VRENTH