Making their debut on the mighty Relapse Records, Living Gate are something of a supergroup (although they’d undoubtedly deplore the term), featuring Aaron Rieseberg (Yob), Leenart Bossu (Outhbreaker, Amenra), Wim Coppers (Oathbreaker, Wiegedood) and Levy Seynaeve (Amenra, Wiegedood). One listen to the frenetic opening gambit on the EP and you rapidly realise that Living Gate is a digression to the extreme and, in that sense, it operates in much the same way as Bloodbath does for the various members of Katatonia and Paradise Lost – allowing a step away from the nuanced evolution of parent bands and back to classic influences. A none-more-brutal offering that eschews studio-based spit and polish for unrelenting malice, Deathlust is one hell of a debut and a must for fans of old school death metal.
The EP opens with the ferocious The Delusion Of Consciousness. A couple of drum hits, a guttural roar dragged up from the sewers of hell, and riffs that seem to churn and grind like some devilish machinery, it sits happily alongside the likes of Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel, and yet, for all of the old-school trappings, there’s a singlemindedness of purpose and iron discipline that is utterly riveting. No less intense is Roped and, if the tempo drops, the change in pace is offset by the grinding riffs and malevolent atmosphere. Yet Living Gate, through the combined experience of the members’ various bands, are masters of the bait and switch and, no sooner than you’ve settled into the nightmarish sludge, the band up the ante and unleash hell on the unsuspecting. A mere three-and-a-half minutes in length, Roped is, nonetheless, a potent and varied assault, mesmerizingly anchored by some of the most astonishing bass work you’ll hear in extreme metal this year. Shorter, sharper and altogether nastier, Deathlust may employ baroque guitars to add depth to the gruelling horror of the overall track, but you’ll be too busy piecing together your shattered cranium to notice for the most part, and it should come as no surprise that the EP took its name from this intense and exciting song.
The unstoppable upsurge of Heaven Ablaze sets the scene for some deftly executed, stair-stepping guitars that seem to swirly around the listener, sucking them ever deeper into the morass of the band’s making. It’s simply brilliant death metal, performed with a depth and intensity that never once dips in deference to the remarkable musicianship being deployed. The perfect balance between technical proficiency and extremity, captured with admirable clarity and authenticity, listen on headphones to get the full impact of this stunning track. It leaves Living Gate to see the EP out and, for all its brevity, its not a moment too soon for so intense is the band’s assault that fatigue would surely set in if it ran any longer. Initially a putrid blast of death metal in the vein of Autopsy, Living Gate wends its way to the conclusion through a number of contortions before culminating in a clean-picked outro that would sound perfectly in keeping as part of a horror movie soundtrack.
Deathlust is very clearly a passion project and, throughout, the band seem to be revelling in the chance to unleash some potent, old-school death metal free from the expectations of their main bands. That’s not to say, however, that this is to be dismissed as a mere folly – there is such depth and power to the performances, not to mention love for the subject matter, that the EP emerges as one of the most refreshingly brutal releases of the year to date. Free from compromise, Deathlust is the sound of seasoned musicians regaining their muse and the results are staggering. 9/10
