Review by Vladimir on November 8, 2023.

Death knocks on many doors, but how many of us would dare to open? If you wish to find out, stay tuned for today’s death-defying topic. The subject of this review will be covering a Venezuelan black metal one-man band Lvctvs and his third independent full-length album Sobredósis De Pensamiento Fúnebre, released on November 3rd, 2023. 

Everything begins with sounds of rainfall in pure somber autumn depression, until you suddenly hear the buzzsaw distorted guitars backed up with screeching and agonizing screams from the distance, where you will also hear some melancholic keyboards that contribute by adding an atmospheric flavor to this death-defying brew. On top of all the agony expressed through eerie guitar riffs and tormented vocals through every song, there are moments of catchy mid-tempo riffing and drumming, including occasional tremolo picking riffs and blast beats, which give the songs additional edge and dynamic songwriting. The only exception that this album has is the third track 'Heidegger O De La Muerte', which is two and a half minutes long and in terms of its execution in clean guitars and slow tempo drums, it’s a musical departure from the rest of the album but nonetheless a well-executed interlude that serves as a gateway to the closing track 'Me Hundo En Mi Ocaso'. The general songwriting is fairly simple depressive black metal with songs that last around 10 minutes (with the exception of the third track 'Heidegger O De La Muerte'), containing a variety of ideas that range from melancholic to horrifying. Although the output seems quite straightforward and easy to grasp, what is truly the highlight of this album and probably its quality work is the fact that every song is like a chapter that tells its own story, which slowly builds up all the way towards the moment where one embraces death. The lyrical theme of this album is a philosophical concept about death and the fact of thinking about that last moment that ends all existence, which is wonderfully presented with the macabre cover art. The sound production of this album is quite raw with its buzzsaw guitar sound that is backed up with distorted harsh screams, although I personally feel like the vocals could have been done a bit better in the overall mix/master process due to the added vocal distortion that is a bit over the top. 

Even though I am not a fan of DSBM in general, I quite liked this album’s execution from one song to another, especially since it feels like a 4-chapter story that does a good job at transcending that feeling of impending doom and the constant agonizing fear before dying. Lvctvs managed to combine emotion with atmosphere and the result of it is a work that really deserves to be noticed by DSBM fans all over the world. If you are indeed one brave soul that would open the door for the figure in black, then you will definitely like this album for its eerie macabre vibes mixed with melancholy. 

Rating: 8.1 out of 10

Review by Nathan on December 23, 2021.

We’ve finally come full circle. It’s been about a decade that we’ve been going through “OSDM revival” now, which is a sufficient amount of time to start having generic third and fourth stringers pop up, circulate, and even attain a small amount of success. Ever listen to a new band, think “well that sure was extremely ok” and then never think about listening to them ever again? You probably don’t even remember if that’s happened because that’s how insignificant the experience would be. Anyhow, that’s Into The Atrium Of Inhuman Morbidity for you.

The surface sound is fine, Mephitic Grave clearly likes old death metal and emulates its essential qualities - diminished chromatic scale patterns, lots of grooving on the bottom string, you know the drill. Even the production is on the thin side, as if we couldn’t already tell this band really likes the early 90s. The problem is that instead of taking these ideas and sculpting them through their own lens, Mephitic Grave is content to just present those ideas as they are. Instead of ripping off the idiosyncrasies of the classics (which would have at least been moderately more intriguing), they took the building blocks from “me too” bands like Acheron and Killing Addiction and reimagined them without any extra color, adding slower riffs in for “atmosphere” (i.e. when they couldn’t think of a better transition and got lazy).

It is honestly stunning how little of this album I remember. Even as I listen to it while writing this review I’m trying to note specific sections of this album that work a little bit better or worse, just to try and underscore the effect Into The Atrium Of Inhuman Morbidity has, and it’s near impossible because every section sounds exactly the fucking same. There are no peaks or valleys in these songs, even though each of them have many drastic shifts in tempo and theme, because they haven’t been written in a way that gives the riffs any sort of push-and-pull with one another. They cycle through a few different ominous themes, slow down when their drummer gets tired, and then stew in a few other ideas that only seem related because they rip off similar bands form the 90s. When a song ends, it offers no closure - though not in a cliffhanger way that makes you want to hear what’s next. It’s more of a relief that it’s done, because you were never invested in where the song was going to begin with.

There are lots of other little things that irk me about Into The Atrium Of Inhuman Morbidity - the growls are all vocal fry and have no breath, the drums are muffled which makes it hard to get in the pocket, the bass had the potential and space in the mix for a super thick tone but instead is just as thin as the guitars - but I’d only go in depth about those if there were fewer things to nitpick about this record to begin with. I don’t want to continue to dogpile on an unknown band that’s just trying their best to make a name for themselves, but Mephitic Grave is gonna have to put in waaaay more effort (not to mention fresh ideas) to make themselves stand out in an OSDM scene that is getting more crowded by the minute.

Rating: 3.5 out of 10