Review Summary: Omnidimensional Distinction.
I love Riffs. Riffs love me. If you like riffs, look no further than Garroted's newest masterpiece of progressive G-funk.
13-minute opener "Oleaginous Sewervisions" is high-calibre progressive rock in its purest form. Old Souls such as Al Di Meola, Lemmy, Big L, and Walter Becker would all be equally proud of how potently this intricately-crafted summoning advances along its running time, leaving you grasping at the edge of your seat for its entire duration. The U.S. Marine Corps training program "The Crucible" was actually named after the first half of this mind-crushing timewarp of chaos and destruction. It sounds like an Otherworldly Sludgedemon has awakened and is crawling out from the Abzu to wreak sheer Havoc upon the earth like a member of Mobb Deep in 1996. When I listen to this song, I can only picture the Optional Superbosses from Final Fantasy 7 ("The Weapons") breaking through the Heaving Earth of Gaia and unleashing sheer and utter "Pandemonium" upon the unsuspecting muggles and half-stepping falses who surely do not entry upon the Gates of truth. Praise the Ripping Sky. Om Shanti.
"Crimson Thirst" is, as the title implies, obviously a song about eating demon pussy. Having been around the block once or twice myself, i can solemnly state that this song is rite on the money when it comes to aurally depicting the passionate emotion, darkness, disgust, and downright filthy funk that such an act ent(r)ails. Short and sweet, menacing and juggular-vein-lacerating a la that prom king Autopsy sang about back on ***fun in 1995, it was clear from the gate-go that this was going to be the band's biggest hit single to date.
Speaking of Gates, I don't think a demonic sphincter of any calibre has been opened this wide since Mike Browning first incantated the Urilia text on the intro to Morbid Angel's first recorded full-length studio LP record from 1986. Heck, even Bill and Melinda are considering adopting new surnames out of sheer and utter respect in the wake of this EP and its Poseidon riffs contained therein.
Trifecta-rounder and portal-closer "Into the Shivering Forest" is a song about entering the steep and icy glades at Sugarloaf Mountain in the Carrabasset Valley in the northeastern sector of New England (the region H.P. Lovecraft hailz from, no coincidence for sure), truly a task not for the faint of heart. And listening to this song on any medium is truly a task not for the faint of art, for this song is arguably the most diverse and potent craft these young bloodmonks hath ever spawned upon our hungry ears. Long and whirling, yet direct in its attack, this is the perfect battle-hymn to ride into the steeps of certain doom as you realize that imminent death is the only truth and nothing else is real. All five members of the horde really shine on this one, and their cacophonous necroharmony was never more readily apparent. If you hear one song from this band, make it this one.
The production on this EP is a bit polished and dry for my taste, but this does nothing to detract from the music itself and it is evident that there is no pro-tools ***ery or unnecessary dildonics going on behind the mixing desk as is such common practice in today's "music industry". Gone is the delicious murky reverb-drenched muck of the debut EP from 2016, and in its place is a clean, crisp reflection of the band's true talents and above-par technical abilities and musicianship that was already evident on the debut and is even more front-and-center on this release.
As far as the physical release is concerned, the CD packaging and layout is gorgeous and you would think it was laid out by a spiritual gangster from Boston Mass with how professional and sharp it looks, feels, and withstands apocalypses.
If the Interdimensional Orifice on the front cover (beatifically hand-drawn by the legendary Philippine enigma known only as "Infernvz") isn't enough to "suck you in", this fresh slice of organically-crafted Magmic Riffage and Deadly Drummz will certainly chew you up and spit you out quicker than a white kid who wound up in Roxbury
