OK, so with a name like Brutally Deceased, you’re surely not expecting the Vienna Boys’ Choir, but even by their own punishing standards, this new release from the Czech extremists is thrillingly uncompromising stuff. As dirty as you could wish and possessed of a punishing guitar tone that has more in common with the twisted grind of a torturer’s evil machines than an instrument designed to create melody, ‘Black infernal vortex’ is a thirty-minute trip into psychotic madness that will leave you pale and shaken. Released via those notorious purveyors of finest metal, Doomentia, this is a release that will have old school metal fans salivating.
Opening with little fanfare, ‘divinity and decay’ is a feral blast of Swedish-style death metal, red in tooth and claw, which perfectly encapsulates the album’s don’t-give-a-fuck attitude. With guttural vocals and pulverising guitars it wastes little time in meandering through a subtle introduction, the band clearly preferring to grab the listener from the off with their furious, no-holds-barred approach. ‘Devil’s tarn’ sees that furious approach reach new peaks of aggression as the band indulge in sudden time changes and sub-human vocals, harking back to the scarifying misery of Entombed’s early albums with just a touch of icy black metal grind thrown in for good measure. ‘Day of darkness’ opens with a bass-infused riff that loiters, somewhere near the core of the earth, with only the vocals daring to plumb the same depths whilst ‘black hammer of Satan’ sounds like the band had the idea of filtering thrash’s primal attack through Glenn Benton, the result proving to be supremely, satisfyingly evil. Album highlight ‘Serve the labyrinthine tombs’ is the nastiest, fastest, sickest beast on the disc, the band ploughing through the searing riffs with an utter disregard for decency or humanity.
Winner of the best title award, ‘Regurgitation of blood, devoured flesh and gastric juices’ is every bit as unpleasant as its titular concept, the guitars initially slowed to a leaden crawl for an intro that owes more than a small debt to Black Sabbath in its sheer, unyielding weight, only for the band to suddenly hit the fast forward button, unveiling a hyper-speed riff in the process that is viciousness incarnate. ‘Below the adversary’ is a full-tilt and atmospheric blast that sets out to inflict real damage with its multiple riffs and coruscating percussion and then, all too quickly, it’s time for the closing chapter to begin as the band grind out the seething horror that is ‘prelude to deathwish’ with its Sabbath overtones and almost visceral sense of foreboding giving way to the album’s concluding bout of misery, ‘deathwish’ – a final, sulphur-tipped blast of unhinged metallic might ground out by a band who seem to be in danger of plunging forever into the stygian abyss such is their unrelenting ferocity.
If you live for extreme metal then Brutally Deceased are for you. Harking back to the filth and fury of the Swedish death metal scene circa 1993, ‘Black infernal vortex’ is the sort of unholy blackened death metal that strips the senses with its unrefined production and punishing riffs. Extreme, excessive and aggressive, this is not an album for the weak of spirit, but if you caught the stunning ‘dead lovers’ guide’ (2010) or the more recent split with Interment then you’ll already know what to expect and be eager for more. Music as filthy, as toxic and as unhinged as this should possibly come with a licence, but in the absence of such, this album comes highly recommended. Crack a beer and blast this out loud, ‘Black infernal vortex’ is a thrilling slab of primal brutality.
