SPLIT REVIEW: Malthusian / Suffering Hour – Time’s Withering Shadow

Ireland’s MALTHUSIAN and America’s SUFFERING HOUR join forces to unleash a split of dastardly Black-Death Metal conjurations via Invictus Productions on May 6th.

Malthusians’ lumbering music becomes an insidious and malignant presence with dissonant riffs and creepy drum work met by abyssal snarls and screeches. The very first moments are intense and terrifying, showcasing why this band has become one of the leading forces in conjuring truly warped music. Never resting, the nightmarish soundscapes do not always retain their slow-moving monolithic drudge, often firing into spasming discourse with a reticent and yet volatile array of horrors. Whether meandering through heavily layered and sparse sonic oddities or viscerally bludgeoning through flaring extremities everything feels inhospitable and desolate. Monstrously drawn out doomy moments complement frenetic assaults of the senses to violate the mind from every possible corner. The use of more howled vocals atop waves of cascading instruments that can only be described as some of the most hostile Death Metal you will hear this year is sublimely unwholesome. Each of Malthusians’ disdainful and abhorrently dark offerings punches in at over 10 minutes and naturally offer a huge range from hellish choral arrangements through to discarnate demolition of all things corporeal. A feverish and irregular display of the Extreme Metal arts that is one-of-a-kind and truly grotesque.

Suffering Hour break the tension momentarily with stunning acoustic guitars, giving an almost western feel to their opening moments that is accentuated by eerie harmonicas distantly blowing. Their unique intonation soon comes into life with chiming cymbals and sparsely played guitar riffs that make the skin crawl. Contorting bass lines and the already established guitar and drums burn with a radiating solar force that shimmers with vibrance. Until it doesn’t. Quickly becoming a frenzied and frantic assault that is majestic and yet utterly inhuman, innovating and invoking presences most irregular. Though the instrumentals are given plenty of room to manoeuvre, the vocals are piercingly harrowing and equally inescapable. Suffering Hour, as their name might suggest, have a melancholy and wistful side that when coupled with such noxious aggression gives us something recognisable, yet faceless. Foreboding atmospherics flow naturally from every section of their music with its harmfully played discordance that shall fragment the psyche. Though sometimes lulling one into a false sense of security, their diverse music brings in a range of opulent influences, perhaps to cause addiction before maligning everything in sight. Their two original tracks and closing cover wonderfully showcase just how eccentric and vitriolic Suffering Hours’ music can be. Pure unadulterated excellence as always.

Naturally two forces of such potency would not make anything less than a true ghastly spectacle. With neither artistic force inferior to the other, there is no weak link in this flogging chain. The unpredictable and dangerously gripping nature of both bands may not be remotely alike in sonics but share a singular destructive vision that ties the entirety of the record together for an unmistakably magnificent and uneasy listen. This is a labyrinthine and abyssal purging of comfort. Betwixt these vengeful and punishing artists, no hope is left for the spirit, only wretchedly blissful awakening to the abominable.