ALBUM REVIEW: Dipygus – Deathooze

Review time for the debut full length album of Death-Doom Metallers DIPYGUS! The release is out now via Caligari Records and Expansion Abyss.

1. Pt. Pleasant, WV 1967 drops in with upbeat, chaotic drum fills soon followed by grinding guitar assaults that storm out total ferocity. The vocals are slightly buried by the chaotic instrumentals but still come through with the morbid snarling grunts nicely. The slower tempo sections sound epic, brooding with contempt and build up nicely with punchy drums and guitar grooves. I enjoyed the savagery of the quite frenzied and sloppy guitar shredding which drive us back into menacing assaults. With a primal nature, this opening track is catchy and a barbaric start to the record. Excellent.
2. Mekong Maneater sets off with some nice old school movie sampling, always a good start to a Death Metal song. Feeding back guitars, snapping drums and a cavernous sound instrumentally immediately set a much stronger and more doomy tone for this song. The stomping bass and cymbals crashing with growled vocals and huge walls of guitar sounds absolutely gorgeous. There is a fetid and odious feel to the song with its slow, daunting crawl and murky production that I think is enticing from the very onset. There is plenty of faster and more punchy sections that are cool but the more doomy parts were more impressive to me. Gloriously done.
3. Corpseflower starts with more eerie Horror sampling that sounds excellent, adding more detail to the theme of the album. The meaty guitars slam in with the pummelling drums and soon the morbid grunts are back for a morbid crawl of mid tempo Death Metal that chugs and churns out total barbaric violence beautifully. The sheer ferocity is captivating with the songs naturally charm and simplicity that just belts out macabre audible horror seamlessly. There is also some nice doomy parts and more cavernous assaults present which all make this diverse piece a unique and interesting journey. Wonderful.
4. Cyclopia gives us a short piece of grinding guitars and pummelling drums at an upbeat pace that is brutish and groovy, filled with a menacing momentum to build up the album into some overdriven madness. There is nice melodic lead guitar work to complement the ferocious rhythms and a rather chaotic feeling throughout. A nicely placed interval with some more cool sampling. Great work.
5. Deloy’s Ape sets in with distorted samples of a police call, adding even more Horror to the already grotesque repertoire of brilliant sample choices. Cavernously doomy guitar riffs fire us in with huge sounding sparse drums for a gorgeous coupling that creates an incredibly morbid and luscious soundscape of total macabre. This quickly progresses into hammer Death Metal violence, interwoven nicely with the slower paced sections, transcending smoothly to make for a volatile, exciting and unpredictable listen. Stunning songwriting here, damn awesome instrumental mastery. Epic.
6. Coffin Stain predictably starts with some more fun sampling before battering guitars and maniacal drums throw us through layers of densely well-executed Death Metal of the most odious variety. The fungal, rotting sounds of the band are gorgeously murky with a dungeon-dwelling filth to the guitars, drums and vocals alike. The vocals are at their strongest on this song in my opinion, lurking in the shadows of the instruments but penetrating through with utterly morbid grunts. The later parts of the song are especially filled with mayhem and some insane grooves and barbaric assaults alike. Killer stuff.
7. Angillas: Killer Of The Living brings in the ending for this picturesque horror journey. Once more we are given samples, this time sounding like some monstrous battle or airstrike. Guitars and intricate drum fills blast right into chugging and menacing swings of total putridity. The pace grows with a natural life into a bludgeoning death-march, giving the idea of respite amongst this album total disregard, instead packing in as much violent action as possible but with some gorgeous doomy flourishes to add atmosphere. I loved the crawling pace that was nicely varied with diverse songwriting too on this song especially. It gave a well rounded idea of what the band can do, almost as if in summary whilst being an excellent song in its own right. Marvellous!

This release mixed blistering Death Metal and bludgeoning Doom Metal touches in a really unique and fascinating way. Thoroughly captivating and certainly to the point, this album is one that may not have as much hype as some others in the Extreme Metal world but that does not mean you should overlook it. While there is some juxtaposition, this is a fantastic debut album for the band. A putrid, spore-jerking experience. -8/10