Misantropologi was released this year on 23rd June, both on Digital format and CD, by the prolific (their 4th full-length in 7 years) Danish Death Metal maniacs from Undergang. This album follows their usual approach – an insane mixture of primitive raw and grotesque atmosphere with a Demilich tinge.
Be prepared for 28:27 minutes of madness!
Tracklist:
Efter obduktionen 03:15
Sygelige nydelser (del I) Apotemnofili 01:16
Klynget op i en galge af egne indvolde 02:14
Skåret i småstykker 04:21
Lymfatisk drænage 02:32
En bedemands bekendelser 03:10
Væskende sår 02:34
Sygelige nydelser (del II) Tafefili 01:27
Tvangsfodret pigtråd 04:57
The Chasm (Disgrace cover) 02:41
Misantropologi evokes an atmosphere taken straight out of 19th-century pathology books, doubled by the artwork drawn by their own David Mikkelsen (Vocals / Guitars). A visual introduction that perfectly fits the carnage that is about to begin.
The album starts with Efter obduktionen, literally “After the Autopsy”. Now, in medical practice, after an autopsy comes the grim part of cleaning up the mess and the even grimmer bureaucratic nightmare of filling out forms. However, this is Death Metal, so it’s the doctor that comes after the autopsy (note: we’re not too fluent in Danish). It starts with a very short intro, then suddenly strikes you with that viral mid-tempo Demilich touch of sickness followed up by a faster rhythm section with a great mix of bass, guitar riffs and drums. Immediately, everything goes insane under the killer guttural voice.
You can find different rhythm and speed changes all over the album, with dynamic variations. It’s like a challenging competition between drum-beats, vocals and riffs such in Sygelige nydelser (del I) Apotemnofili, volume I of a sick story in two parts: the first one focuses on Apotemnophilia (a neurological disorder defined as the desire for amputation of a specific limb, or a need to become paralyzed, blind or deaf – further study – Pungent Stench – Apotemnophiliac off 2004’s Ampeauty). Sygelige nydelser (del II) Tafefili –is the second part and deals with the love of being buried alive. Don’t judge.
There are also remarkable bass lines (like in Klynget op i en galge af egne indvolde) that tickle your hearing with sickness and cold. Insane lines of guitar getting slowly amplified by the killer bass, spiced with the powerful cold brutality of the drum-beats. Everything just makes the entire sound smell of disease (here’s a nice word for you – synaesthesia), neuronal disorders spreading a funeral atmosphere all over. It’s like a scan of medicine’s dark side, driven by a morbid curiosity and enthusiasm, as for example you can taste in Lymfatisk drænage. It’s like revealing the most rare and awkward pathologies through a keyhole. Subtle distinctive approaches are revealing themselves through parts such as the beginning of En bedemands bekendelser, which starts with a piano intro that turns everything into a deep static graveyard atmosphere. It just makes your blood thinner; also, the entire track has a particularly cadaveric miasma until the end. The album ends with a cover, The Chasm off the Grey Misery album of the Finnish Death Metal/Punk band Disgrace.
The entire work simply breaks your bones one by one. It’s a complex and remarkable work, in which the potential of each instrument is explored through short solo-fragments, therefore, creating a perfect whole.
Unquestionably, it deserves a place among the latest great releases; Misantropologi is for sure a landmark for how to play insane obscure Death Metal at its finest. So don’t be shy, check this album out! (you can listen to it on Bandcamp).
Don’t forget to support them and don’t miss them at Old Grave Festival!
- Artwork10
- Production10
- Music10
