ALBUM REVIEW: Astriferous – Pulsations From The Black Orb

One of my favourite obscure bands in the Death Metal underground is Costa Rica’s ASTRIFEROUS. With some great, but shorter, releases already under their belt it is now time to dig into their debut full length. Out via Me Saco Un Ojo Records, Pulverised Records and Seed Of Doom Records on March 10th.

Estranged sounds bring the cosmic horror to life with an evocative introduction. The gloomy mood has an eldritch and hostile feeling as clunky bass comes slowly into the mix. There is a huge amount of doom in their sound, especially the pounding drums while the riffs can quickly ramp up into utter savagery. Bellowing guttural vocals and spewing mephitic riffs entwine with the powerful drum sound to conjure a raw and maniacal demon of true Death Metal brilliance. There is a nice mix of chunkier Swedish influence with that utterly ravenous South American method of playing which suits Astriferous’ urgent and chaotic music gorgeously. As a fan of all their material to date, I am extremely glad the debut full length is not a let down. From the earliest moments we hear a devastating force of true extremity that cannot be ignored.

Reaching further into the underground abyss, the intensity of the record grows across the board with monstrous drumming and all-consuming guitar spread over thick bass lines to meet violently menacing vocals in a demonic fashion. The intricate progressions still feel ruthless and harsh while showing the bands maturing songwriting abilities that have definitely hit their highest points on this record. The way they can pull this back to a slick but primitive groove is equally impressive as technicality does not always equate to quality. Indeed these guys can comfortably handle most tempos and deliveries with plentiful dynamic shifts and exciting twists throughout.

Reviewing Death Metal is one of those pleasures that keeps me actively seeking underground gems in the murky seas of obscurity. Equally rewarding is watching a band develop from their demo days to a crushing debut full length, such as here. Astriferous might not have a huge hype around them, which let’s face it is probably a good thing. What they do have is absolutely unwavering quality, brutal music and a difficult to fault discography. Right until the albums closing moments it feels like an intense yet pleasurable journey into some fetid catacomb of otherworldly horrors with a soundtrack that just not stumble even once. Hell even the little acoustic middle section is cool, which could easily have stopped the momentum dead but did not. This feels by far the most creative and well thought out display from the band to date and additionally is one of those records that sounds how the cover art looks which rules. Magnificent.

A ruthless and potent example of Costa Rican Death Metal might. Astriferous’ blend of cosmic, graven and eerie music is a crushing one that is not to be missed by old school maniacs. There is enough sepulchral grit to keep things very real while pushing the boundaries with some weirder moments. “Pulsations From The Black Orb” is a superb debut LP.