Death Fire Darkness

If the cover art of this death metal split doesn’t pique your interest in the tiniest bit, then are you really a fan of the genre? Death Fire Darkness is a three-song split effort between Sweden’s Inisans, and Sepulchral Frost. The former has been together for a little while now, dropping their debut in 2018, while the latter is a more recent group hailing from the turn of the decade. Together they offer up about fifteen minutes worth of new chops, while each side takes an aesthetic of its own.

​The A-side holds two of the three tracks, both by Inisans, as their music in general is a bit more straightforward death metal cut from quicker-processed material. Not a second of “Holocaust Winds” is anything short of compelling, dropping rhythms that capture horrid energy. Gradients of noisy leads blend with the pummeling wall of drums in intricate patterns, retaining an identity of its own. The second track, “Circle Of The Serpent,” follows it up from the same bottom idea, but focuses more on intense speed, delivering the classic Morbid Angel-like artillery.

Side B only holds one track, the longer and more drawn out “Blessed By Fire” brought to us by Sepulchral Frost. For a band that has always identified more with the doom/death spectrum, it’s amazingly packed with blitzing speed. Part-way through, you’ll get your hefty dose of slow riffage that takes a complete one-eighty in atmosphere. Though both bands take a somewhat raw approach, this one clearly aims for that factor to be a big part of its identity. Weirdly, the vocals are more comprehensible, but I’ll admit that this song didn’t quite do for me what the Inisans A-side did.

But as a whole release, Death Fire Darkness is easily a worthwhile spin. The digestible run-time is a pretty obvious helper, but I can see both of these bands taking what they’ve laid out and projecting it onto something a bit more firm. It’s a nice sampler plate where repeated helpings allow it to grow on you even more.

Originally written for Sleeping Village