Reassembled in Pain

Following a split earlier this year, sewer death metal newcomers Chthonic Deity have their demo for our listening displeasure. Featuring some of death metal’s most important names in the current scene, this is a promising release.

Drums forcefully pound in which are met with a festering and gruesome array of crawling guitars and spewed guttural vocals. The immediately huge and decimating walls of Incantation style death metal are captivating and do not stop to hesitate, delivering filth and festering soundscapes of reverberate putridity, I am immediately understanding the huge amount of hype surrounding this release regardless of the fantastic musicians involved, though of course their skilful blend of odious extremity is present in this steaming chasm of disdain. The doomy touches of the music are reminiscent of 90s Finnish death metal such as Sentenced and Funebre, certainly something brilliant.

Oozing bars of blistering intensity and sparse atmospherics make this release feel like a true work of art, something that is impressive for a band so new, with a truly complete feeling to the demo. The meatiness of the drums backing up such savage guitars and vicious vocals makes for a pummelling experience that is punishingly brutal and unrelenting from start to end, taking you to the promised land of death metal ecstasy with what is definitely one of the more memorable demos from this year.

Do not hesitate in submitting to this cacophony of horrors, lest it digest you whole. The reek of magnificence and gloriously thundering death metal will certainly resonate through those who delve into this short but satisfying venture of depravity.

Written for www.nattskog.wordpress.com

Formed in late 2013 as a side project (preceding another similar side project) celebrating shared death-punk influences, Chthonic Deity is as much of a bridge between Bay Area and Pacific Northwest death metal that conjoined twin Necrosic had been back in 2016. Though they’ve added Paul Riedl of Blood Incantation and Spectral Voice on vocals/guitars since, thus far Chthonic Deity‘s songwriting and performances are set to tape entirely between Erika Osterhout (Scolex, ex-Extremity) and drummer Charlie Koryn (Ascended Dead, Funebrarum, ex-Ghoulgotha) who’d been jamming on ideas since touring together all those years ago. If you’re already familiar with their ‘Chtonicmagick‘ split with Runemagick from September of this year consider this ‘Reassembled in Pain’ 7″ EP a prequel of forms as it was demoed in 2015 during the ‘Putrid Decimation’ (Necrosic) sessions and completed in 2018. Primitive, cavernous, and insulated by a healthy mix of thrashing hardcore punk influence this first demo from Chthonic Deity isn’t a deep or particularly involved set of punkish death metal songs but they’ve managed to translate their shared love for Nihilist, Autopsy, and Stormcrow into a satisfying hit of barbaric death metal style.

Shit, that is a hell of a lot of namedrops to process but the gist of it shouldn’t be too tough to figure for folks who follow ‘modern’ death metal’s craggy, fucked up focus on primitivism; The militant bent that hardcore punk influences lend to the caveman aura of Chthonic Deity keep the songs flowing big and nasty throughout. Earhammer Studios always does this sort of band right (see: Vastum), never obscuring the artist while making sure they’re as filthy as they want to be and no doubt Osterhout was aiming for something grotesque and ‘old school’ in approaching this demo. If you’d just put on “Drained” and shook your head at me thinking it sounded like some long lost ’92 Midwest death metal band, fair enough, but the sci-fi/horror stomp of the opener is a Kool-Aid man through a brick wall compared to the steady buzz, groove, n’ churn of the rest of the EP.

‘Reassembled in Pain’ ends up being a solid listen that ends a little too soon, that’d just be the nature of a 7″ anyhow. I guess “Blood Ritual” and “Echoes of Death” could’ve been swapped in the tracklist for a more ‘complete’ feeling statement but I have no real qualms with Chthonic Deity‘s steady, standard, and sickened punkish death metal style. Love the atmosphere, enormous vocal sound, big wailing guitar leads, and I think the demo shows some great promise if they can find a medium between the stomping burliness of “Drained” and the slithering descent of “Blood Ritual”. Moderately high recommendation. For preview purposes I’d suggest you’d just as well spin the whole thing at around 14 minutes but aim for “Disintegrating Organs” and “Blood Ritual” for the bigger picture.

Attribution: https://grizzlybutts.com/2019/11/07/chthonic-deity-reassembled-in-pain-2019-review/

One of the handfuls of Halloween releases this year entailed a cold and grimy demo by Chthonic Deity, based out of Denver, Colorado. Going by the name of Reassembled In Pain, it’s a very straightforward release only coming in around the twelve-minute mark, staying rather one-sided. But, for something with such a small amount of material, that’s to be expected.

Reassembled In Pain is a death metal effort that seems just a bit too concise for its own good, considering that this is a demo and the image projected might suggest otherwise. However, nothing is polished either, and the four tunes are digestible and written well. Admittedly, the first two songs “Drained” and “Disintegrating Organs” (or side A) don’t really suggest anything too interesting. The vocals are the highest standout because of the echoing trail they leave. Nothing against the instrumentation, but it certainly couldn’t be any safer if it tried.

Side B changes that by taking the same approach but incorporating a much heftier fuel-source. “Echos Of Death” is a faster punch that delivers the strongest solo present, and again, seeming oddly clear for what was expected. But that doesn’t diminish this in the slightest. Closer “Blood Ritual” is the most unique song as stompier passages are integrated, and the wailing guitars reach their most chaotic point. All of this is backed by a rhythm that’s so hooky that I’m still humming it.

I was certainly expecting something a bit muddier and gross sounding based on the album cover and the format. But what’s here is strong enough within itself, and Chthonic Deity give a good idea of what a full-length might entail in the future. The second half also saved it from the safety of monotony. Death metal goers should absolutely sacrifice the twelve minutes to hear it.

Originally written for Indy Metal Vault