Well, well, well. We delayed our descent into proper brain drilling for exactly one year — long enough for the specimen to mature, rot, and ferment in its own sealed jar.
And here it is, ladies and ghouls: I present to you Larvae — Arousal of the Crawling Creature! Twelve minutes and filthy-six seconds of concentrated death-doom secretion. Short. Condensed. Surgical. No wasted tissue.
The organism identified as Larvae (Italy, 2019) began its cultivation within the diseased framework of Death/Doom Metal, with deliberate intent of disgust — meticulously curated by Lucilla Sericata (Songwriting/Vocals/Guitar/Synths) – the mastermind behind the operation.
In the present phase, the blast-beats are administered by the skilled hands of Tom Coroner (Drums) — a title that requires no further explanation. Their methodology remains consistent: prolonged sonic suffocation, precision riff excision, careful preservation of rot.
On their fourth release, this EP comes more infectious than Salmonella in August heat — yet strangely poetic. The band doesn’t just decompose sound; they curate it like an anatomo-pathologist who doesn’t merely dissect, but preserves. Every riff is pinned, labeled, and submerged in formaldehyde for observation.
Dead — but deliberately displayed to highlight the elegant pathology of transformation.
Now, let’s plunge headfirst into this dissection of gore:
LARVAE – Arousal of the Crawling Creature
EP, released on January 29th, 2025, on digital format
Artwork by Lucilia Sericata
TRACKLIST:
1. Epitaffio 00:52
2. Arousal of the Crawling Creature 05:06
3. Squirming like Disgusting Maggots 01:48
4. Fatal Erotic Torment 01:56
5. Raise the Dead 01:30
6. Outro – Intruder 01:44
(12:56 of perverted degeneration)
Visual Evidence: The Artwork
Before the needle even drops, the cover already destabilizes you. It’s a delirious universe — untwinned by some internal delamination of reality itself. Not chaos for the sake of shock, but a world that has peeled away from its own symmetry. A mental ecosystem split open from the inside. The colours don’t sit still – they crawl. They sink deeper and more intrinsic than the creatures they portray, as if the palette itself is infected.
Purples rot into blacks that don’t decorate the sound; it announces it.
The artwork doesn’t conceal a single point of insanity. There is no subtlety, no polite abstraction. What you see is exactly what you will endure.
It speaks clearly: This is decomposition. This is delirium. This is an internal collapse rendered visible.
Like a jar specimen floating in chemical suspension — grotesque, yes — but arranged with deliberate precision. Not random madness. Curated pathology.
The cover doesn’t accompany the EP. It warns you.
Track Dissection
1. Epitaffio (00:52)
A ceremonial incision. Brief, almost ritualistic. Less a song, more a scalpel tracing the outline before the real cut begins. It smells of damp crypt air and unfinished prayers, however it isn’t about your prayers.
2. Arousal of the Crawling Creature (05:06)
The main procedure. Slow-pressure doom collapsing into writhing extremity. The guitars feel swollen, infected, dragging themselves across the floor. Vocals erupt like something regurgitated rather than performed. There’s a grotesque sensuality here — not erotic in the conventional sense, but biological. Flesh responding to decay.
3. Squirming like Disgusting Maggots (01:48)
Compressed violence. Short bursts of convulsive riffing. No atmosphere — just infestation. This one doesn’t crawl; it multiplies. A frantic, claustrophobic rupture in the middle of the EP.
4. Fatal Erotic Torment (01:56)
Where doom and morbidity intertwine. The pacing suffocates deliberately. There’s something theatrical here — almost decadent in its suffering. A slow-motion collapse dressed in velvet rot.
5. Raise the Dead (01:30)
Not resurrection. Reanimation. Limbs are twitching on the distorted bass, teetering on collapse. Everything feels unsteady, like it could fall apart at any second, which only makes it more convincing that it can and may crawl into reality.
6. Outro – Intruder (01:44)
An after-image. The echo in the corridor after the body has been removed. Not closure — contamination.
Final Diagnosis:
What makes this EP unsettling isn’t just its filth — it’s its composure. It knows exactly how much time it needs. It doesn’t overstay. It infects and withdraws. Basically, twelve minutes of curated decomposition – like opening a jar labeled: “Specimen: Degeneration in Progress” and realizing it’s still moving.
