Australia’s very own Disentomb are blowing up in the brutal death metal department after releasing their 2014 sophomore release of Misery which became a global phenomenon and one of the absolute best, most enjoyable and in your face death metal releases I’ve ever heard coming from a huge death metal fan at heart. When I got the promo from Unique Leader Records to hear The Decaying Light for the very first time, my expectations went skyrocketed and this is everything I love and expect to come out from Disentomb. After having the privilege and honor seeing them live and interviewing the band last year at Devastation On The Tour, they’ve been hard-working to create the most matured, authentic and atmospheric releases they’ve ever done.
Musically, it’s what you come to expect from Disentomb from the doom metal-esque passages, guttural vocals, solid drumming, blistering guitars and bass signatures have significantly improved over Misery. From the album art, songwriting and stirring visions to descend you into the deepest and darkest portals of hell and suffering, this release most definitely captured brilliance, strength and deliverance. Each song will feature atmosphere of creepy tremolo picking, thunderous bass, and rapid drumming that sets a dark mood for the listener to feel evil, ashamed and lost in despair.
The Decaying Light is more of a redefined, polished and well executed album not because of the technical, measured, pummeling assaults and impressive musical layers building triumphant, but it promises to be far consistent in the realms of brutality, shear heaviness and equal amounts of gut retching, proficient and blasting pure aggression tempos is surely, but incredibly steady start to finish. Complex rhythms, blackened atmospheres, structured compositions and instantly memorable 13 track record is a massive slab of raw, filthy and unadulterated goodness is the reason everyone should hear this album.
The Decaying Light is a extremely well written album with the band showing their finest craft to date with many influences from Disgorge, Defeated Sanity, Suffocation, Pathology and Inherit Disease. Tracks such as Indecipherable Sermons of Gloom, The Great Abandonment, Undying Dysphoria, Rebirth Through Excoriation and Dredged into Existence introduces some new mixtures for the band’s sound progression as majority of the album has this sludgy, groovy and almost blackened death-esque arrangements while still combining their brutal death metal traces is completely fresh, unique and never dull in my humblest opinion.
This album also introduces Matti Way whom everyone knows him for his time with Disgorge, Pathology and current vocalist for Russia’s Abominable Putridity who does guest vocal appearances for Your Prayers Echo into Nothingness which was the band’s first single that was released and my god did it work perfectly as imaginable. For a band who’s been in the underground since 2009, Disentomb are not only one of my top favorites in the brutal death metal scene, but their style for the genre is something nobody can ever replicate or rehash.
The Decaying Light is Disentomb’s finest work to date and also most matured sounding releases they’ve done in their catalog and I’m so proud to see them coming this far how much they’ve naturally progressed as a band and some of the nicest dudes in death metal you’ll ever meet in real life. Disentomb simply put out another modern brutal death metal masterpiece and The Decaying Light showcases that the genre is more fierce than ever before.
Overall Score: 10/10
Review by Jake Butler
