18th-century British philosopher Thomas Malthus created an exponential formula that was used to project the rate of population growth and the potential catastrophes that would occur due to overpopulation.
Malthusianism— the theory was coined; we as a human race would eventually bleed our resources dry and get crushed under the weight of unrealistic demand. Civilization would degrade causing a domino-effect ensued by famine, war, and disease. While the theory was speculative, we are already seeing population growth hit unforeseen heights and the threat of running out of water and other essentials is very plausible in the not-so-distant future. On a grand scale, and on a very personal one, we as human beings continue to be our own worst enemy. While the trajectory of overpopulation in itself would be out of our hands to shape, the paranoia and severity of such a threat once things got dire, would cause unparalleled amounts of devastation within society. While this theme is unabashedly nihilistic, Malthusian uses this idea no differently than how any other death metal band would run away with ideas of the earth being brought to its knees by some cataclysmic force or otherworldly horrors. But with Malthusian, the concept— while a simple one, is more grounded in a realistic foundation of not only asking, ‘what if’ but with our established trajectory, the prospect of ‘when’.
Malthusian is a relatively under-the-radar four-piece death metal band from Ireland that infuses different avenues of metal to create a satisfying balance of atmosphere and structure.
Across Deaths is their debut full-length that further expands on what their last EP
Below The Hengiform established. While the band doesn’t necessarily progress or broaden their sound all that much, they continue to do what they know incredibly well. Malthusian isn’t overtly technical or tight in a typical way in itself, the band prefers to come off as barbaric and always on the brink of insanity. There is an unconventionality to their sound, in part due to the help of the band's deranged array of vocal styles and the way they are layered throughout the album. The relentless depiction of how a thousand tortured souls would sound crying out from an open crevice in hell, the music not just dwelling in the desolate aftermath of man, but basking in the sadistic turn humans would take on one another. The blistering ‘Sublunar Hex’ is a reminder of humankind’s curse, and the downward spiral of a world with no law and the total withdrawal of morality. With ‘Primal Attunement’ they change it up and the band slows things down to a plodding pace. The song right out of the gate drenches you in its eerie atmosphere; the way the melting violins creep into the last third of the song are reminiscent of something you’d hear in a funeral doom song. It takes its time, being the longest track on the album at twelve minutes, and does a not so subtle job of illustrating that all hope is lost.
‘Across The Expanse of Nothing’ is everything Malthusian excels at and is a definite highlight. Around the six minute mark on the aforementioned track the band builds into an explosive crescendo of truly wicked proportions. A goosebump-inducing frenzy of catharsis; a void encapsulation that is the musical equivalent of a disheveled man on his knees howling with mad laughter while everyone around him is eviscerated by a Lovecraftian abomination. The people getting stricken with such limitless and colossal power their bodies immediately go through the three stages of matter before they’d even hit the ground. An entity that is taking advantage of humans final period on earth, salting the wound on an astronomical level. I digress. The terms ‘cavernous’ and ‘evil’ get thrown around ad nauseam when describing death metal nowadays but Malthusian, if any band, is worthy of such praise. While never reaching heights of bands like Ulcerate that deal with similar themes, Malthusian’s goal has never been mind-numbing technicality nor to follow in the intentions of the myriad of bands that Malthusian gets compared to constantly, to its notoriety's detriment.
There is an intentionally impetuous charm to
Across Deaths’ execution that gives it a ruthless edge amongst its peers. On the production side of things, the band goes to murkier depths than ever before. All the individual parts of the band sound like they were recorded from a distance or even in some veiled fashion giving them this buried and unearthed quality. The production and mixing on the album prefer a suffocatingly prominent low end that greatly compliments their aesthetic. With their darker tone and matured formula they’re able to articulate more nuance and intricacies in their songwriting, resulting in Malthusian sounding the best that they ever have while retaining their filthy spirit and demeanor. The band is consistently a foreboding presence thanks to their malicious combination of howling vocals,
deceptively simple guitar passages, and multifaceted drums. The drumming on
Across Deaths and their entire body of work— is unsurprisingly, one of the band’s biggest strengths. The drummer manages to get a lot of mileage out of the compositions with his versatility and dexterity behind the kit. The dynamism of the drummer and well-timed transitions enhance and elevate the tremolo-picked guitar riffs and impious vocal delivery to reach something beyond the sum of its parts. While Malthusian aren’t doing anything game changing per se— when it’s this good, it doesn’t need to be. The album is accessible enough to immediately bite into while also being dense enough to come back to again and again to find something new to appreciate.
For lovers of death metal old and new, fans of bands like Portal and even Incantation can find something to enjoy here as well. Their concept that is
oh so intrinsic to the roots of death metal ties everything together in a satisfying package. The album results in being a reflection of its themes in which it begins in a whirlwind of destruction and abruptly ends in an echo of ruin. A fitting and mirrored portrayal of society and all its grand potential to be brought to disintegration by the relentless advance of time, inevitably collapsing as quickly as it rose.
Across Deaths is an under-appreciated gem from the late 2010s that is one of the very best of its kind. I’d prefer to stay optimistic about our fates, but as long as Malthusian continues in this direction of splendid morbidity, I wouldn’t mind taking another look at our grim projection.
