Artwork by Jef Whitehead is a good way to get my attention and prompt me to give something a listen (much like Paolo Girardi’s works). Why? Well, have you heard the latest Chaos Moon album? The latest Nails album? Most of Leviathan’s work? Nuff said. Wrest clearly has an eye for talent and his visual works have yet to serve as artwork for an album who’s music doesn’t match up with it in quality. As you can see, we have the latest inductee into this class, and good lord, it’s not one to miss! With Inexorable Suffering is the second album by Our Place of Worship is Silence, a band-turned-duo from Los Angles who play a very grimy and gritty form of Blackened Death Metal that’s as hellishly disturbing as it is sonically punishing. It’s the kind of Blackened Death that reaches beyond the boundaries of the usual tropes and tricks that the genre is known for and is able to find it’s own footing and create a sound that will unsettle you just as much as it brutalizes you.
I first came across this band late last year when I heard their first album, The Embodiment of Hate and instantly took a liking to them for the same reason i’m describing here, and this album only amplifies the weirdness and brutality by a good shit ton. Starting off with Artificial Purgatory, opening this hellride with a long, droning riff that slowly builds into a barrage if rumbling drums and chugging chords accompanied by various horror audio clips (couldn’t quite make out what they were). Just a quick, tone-setting intro. Then Chronicles of Annihilation follows with an explosion of muddy blast-beats and thick, murky tremolos and chords, topped off by the dismal growls that are absolutely the main ingredient that makes this the killer that it is. The throats of both these guys deliver impeccably.
I get a bit of an early Cryptopsy (Lord Worm era, aka the BEST era) feel from their overall sound, in vocals and their eccentric delivery. There’s also a good hint of the cavernous, cave-dweller Death Metal style a la Portal and Triumvir Foul peppered in. It’s basically a mix of Blackened, Technical and Old School Death Metal, soaked in grimy production and meshed into the ugliest form you can possibly get out of that combination. The Blind Chimera and it’s Death is a technical but precisely-executed track and another shining example of the eccentric style that this band exhibits. Same can be said for Defiance and Upheaval, which gives me more of those Cryptopsy vibes. It makes me want to jam out Blasphemy Made Flesh and None So Vile right after. These guys just know how to create something equally dirty and unsettling by thinking outside the box and using these different elements to their advantage, much like Of Feather and Bone does on their latest ripper.
This is modern Blackened Death Metal done right and in a very unique way and once again, Wrest has made a wise choice in what album bares his artwork. It’s ruthless and filthy in sound and disturbing in essence. Also, great band picture! Looking weird and possessed is also a plus. It’s surely another winner in the wave of Death Metal we’re getting this year and it’s a creative one too. It’s raw, filthy, unsettling and all around chaotic and reminds me of some of my favorite classics of it’s kind. So this one is highly recommended for anyone looking for something dirty, raw and different. Even as a duo, these guys have created quite a sound that you can sink your teeth into. I won’t ramble on it too much, so just give it a shot. As always with Wrest artwork, you can trust it by just the cover.
Thy Kingdom Scvm 