Of the seven deadly sins, lovers of metal aren’t most prone to wrath, as the filthy casuals would expect from such “mindless noise.” No no, we are lovers of gluttony. Stoner doom can never have too much fuzz, black metal can never have too much terrible sound quality and power metal, never enough queso.1 While the metalverse is busy weeping with joy over the new Defeated Sanity album, Willowtip Records is quietly loading up a shotgun shell of aural abuse in the form of Scotland’s Iniquitous Savagery’s newest release Edifice of Vicissitudes. Their sophomore release and first for the label, this haggis-scented slab of sonic succulence comes replete with one mission statement: kill them all, and let God sort them out. Are you ready for some more violence in your life?
Comparisons to Defeated Sanity are inevitable but don’t paint the whole picture. From the dynamic Colin Marston production job to the seemingly impenetrable wall of riffs that assault the listener from “go” to “woah”, Edifice of Vicissitudes will feel familiar to any lovers of brutal death in tone and mood. This is a joyless, merciless album that starts fast and ends faster, with virtuoso musicianship and a hodgepodge of slams, grooves, and gurgles to match. Bassist Chris Ryan uses vintage Cryptopsy tones for real pop and twang and loads the album with tendon-ripping scales and fills that would slot in neatly with the jazziest of Imperial Triumphant cuts. Tracks like “Synaptic Cull” and “Drenched in Righteous Offal” hear drummer Euan Harrison doing his best Lille Gruber impression, seamlessly switching from blasts to snare abuse to off-time fills and rolls, keeping the listener constantly disoriented and unable to find their bearings. This drum and bass tandem complicate, obfuscate, and obliterate with technical prowess, disguising some remarkably catchy riffs and slams.
Edifice of Vicissitudes by Iniquitous Savagery
For the patient listener, hooks abound.2 Iniquitous Savagery slides with buttery smoothness from blunt force trauma to sudden insta-groove, Disgorge-ing blasts into moments of violence which get to Unleash(ing) the Carnivore with Voracious Contempt. “Omnipotence Negates Self-Affliction” sports a slam right off the best of the Devourment riff factory, and “Drenched in Righteous Offal” manages to channel the chunky, thick-as-a-brick riffing of Pathology into the atmospheric grooves of Visceral Disgorge. Literally every song sports some pushup-inducing violence, with the listener given precisely one moment to breathe at the end of “Narcotic Exsanguination.” This is an odd moment, featuring an electronic outro, which, while jarring at first, slots in better than it has any right to when the album is consumed as a whole. Given the sheer quantity of riffs crammed into its concise thirty-minute runtime, this turns out to be an inspired choice.
Excellent song arrangement is the secret weapon that holds Edifice of Vicissitudes together. Despite the glut of slam references, this album is no Guttural Slug. Iniquitous Savagery takes the riff coordination of Dying Fetus’ Descend into Depravity, ensuring that builds are organic and explosive, but never returned to, or repeated past their prime. Vocalist Liam McCall drenches the entire thing with moist gutturals but wisely knows when to be quiet and let the music breathe on its own.3 His range is impressive, even in a genre where sounds coming from one’s large intestine is a requisite rather than a skill, starting low and getting impossibly lower. At times he hits notes so low as to almost be swallowed up by the music, reverberating from within instead of atop the riffs, giving them an extra note of menace. Refreshingly, he avoids the “angry horde of crickets” impression so many slamming death vocalists have fallen prey to, sounding as raw and human as the rest of the band.
Edifice of Vicissitudes is a real grower of a release, and less seasoned ears will likely hate it upon first listen.4 However, the patient listener of an aurally masochistic breed will find a treasure trove of violence waiting for them, and multiple listens on good speakers or headphones are rewarding. Iniquitous Savagery has announced its arrival on the big stages of brutal death in grand style, and if the new Defeated Sanity hasn’t filled your appetite for violence, Edifice of Vicissitudes sloppy seconds will almost surely fill the void in your heart.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Willowtip Records
Websites: iniquitoussavagery.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/iniquitoussavagery
Releases Worldwide: November 22nd, 2024
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