Review by Carl on November 10, 2024.

Really? More grinding noise from the Czech Republic, you say? No surprise, really, it seems that around the turn of the century, the country had a veritable infestation of death/grind bands going, so let's see what this particular group of ruffians has to shovel onto our plate.

Musically, this isn't exactly easy listening. You can situate Perversist somewhere on the crossroads of brutal death metal and grindcore, borrowing elements of both styles to create a vicious form of death/grind, with an added technical edge to it. Imagine the sounds of bands like Sinister, Defiled, old Cryptopsy, and Deranged, but spliced up with a few handfuls of crude grindcore in the vein of Agathocles, Blood, and Assück. The band goes at it in a pretty rabid fashion, simply bombarding the listener with busy riffing, fortified with that already mentioned technical edge, delivered with intricate execution and a generous helping of tempo changes, served up with heaving amounts of speed and stomp. It's a brutal package indeed, and also one that will take some spins to get to the bottom of it all. Throughout, the band shoves a rough mix of the usuals through our throats, dishing out burping grunts and deliciously heavy guitar work all around, but that's not all. When that 'heard it before' feeling starts creeping up, the band throws in some twangy, undistorted surf guitars into the mixture, and not once or twice, but quite regularly. It's an odd combo that does alleviate the thundering death/grind somewhat, it certainly adds some form of variation to the mix. That towards the end of the album there is a cover of the surf classic "Misirlou" which makes it abundantly clear that those surf influences are no coincidence either. Does this work in the total picture? Let's just say that the jury may still be out on that one. It's original, I'll give them that, but am I really holding my breath for surf-inspired death/grind? Not really.

Something I'm also not holding any breath for but that gets plowed into my ears anyway, is a drummer that sounds like he's recording his parts using plastic buckets for toms and a cookie tin for a snare. This does not only sound shit, the percussion also picks up a very messy and sloppy edge because of it. And to add the final insult, this rubbery-sounding drum mix also pushes the guitars into the background in the more velocitous sections, and there are a lot of those, so it's not difficult to imagine that the production gets pretty chaotic and messy throughout. Damn sure that this is a bloody shame, because some of this album's strongest points are the meaty guitars and roaring vocals, and it is exactly these elements that get undercut most by the half-assed drum sound, so a big chunk of Perversist's power just goes out of the window because of it. Good thing that the music and execution are still very much on point, something that definitely spares the album from becoming a total disaster.

Had the production been more attentive to the percussion and its overall sound, then "Machine Grind Surgery" would've been a total hammer, but because of this huge flaw, it gets severely undercut. More attention to the final mix would've worked wonders here, because Perversist certainly has the chops and the material to pull off this style of technically inclined grinding death metal, even despite the odd surf guitar that pops up during the runtime of this album. Musically, this is no bad effort for the most part, but because the finishing touch is so severely lacking, Perversist's second album gets bogged down in the murk, without much hope for a reprieve from obscurity.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Vladimir on January 10, 2024.

Every time I come across black metal bands and projects on social media such as Instagram or Facebook and even decide to give them a listen, I would often find myself in a very peculiar situation in which I am either entirely unamused or even unsure as to what to think of it. However, one exceptional case that caught my attention and encouraged me to give it a go, was the black metal project Fantasma from Würzburg, Germany. It originally started as a one-man project by Sarto, who is actively involved in the German black metal scene with bands such as Morgenröthe, Tristețe, Bethlehem, Totensucht and Wehmut, but as of 2023, Fantasma became a two-member project when Martyris joined as the guitarist. On January 5th, 2024, Fantasma released their demo Abomination Of Human Pestilence via Narbentage Produktionen on a limited edition of 66 cassettes, and also as an independent digital release on their Bandcamp page. If you are into German black metal in the similar vein to bands like Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult, please join me on this journey as we take a look at the second official release by Fantasma. 

Fantasma provides a very primitive and misanthropic black metal filled with raw energy and cold atmosphere, thanks to its very clever and effective use of traditional black metal traits consisted of tremolo picking riffs, fast drumming and harsh screaming vocals. Even though these are very standard characteristics of the subgenre, what really compliments the songs is the hateful and atmospheric riffs that radiate such immense feelings, especially on the songs like 'Corrupted By Evil'. On top of all the misanthropy and primitive rawness, there is also some room for catchy Darkthrone and Celtic Frost style riffing that appears on the fourth track 'The Poisoner Of Roma' that successfully managed to satisfy my appetite. Other moments that also deserve a mention is the wicked and slow doomy riff on the sixth track 'Manes', which starts off like Black Sabbath’s self-titled song and then all of a sudden transition into primitive black metal extravaganza. 

It’s interesting to see that the songwriting is so dynamic and rich with ideas, helping the songs flow so smoothly and even lead to some surprising moments like the simple yet melodic soloing on 'The Dance Of The Desperate', which perfectly blends with the song’s melancholic vibe. On top of the band’s original material, they also managed to sneak in a pretty good cover of Totensucht’s 'Die Rückkehr Auf Sensus', in which Sarto of Fantasma also plays as the live guitarist. These days it’s often hard to find bands/projects who dabble in oldschool black metal, especially since most of them don’t even bother trying to make their songs more engaging or interesting, however considering the fact that every song feels like it hits the spot, you can easily tell that Fantasma really went ahead to give all they got. Another highlight of Abomination Of Human Pestilence is its atmosphere, filled with that plague-infested and macabre vibe that is presented with the cover art by Özge Nur and yet transferred through various riff ideas. The demo has a very solid production which despite its rawness really sounds and feels natural and organic, especially with the little help of Oliver Kraus (Agathodaimon, Cravenhall, Dagdrøm, The Morgrotuskthululustoccultobskullty Horrormance) who provided his drumming skills. 

I must say that I was quite fascinated that this demo really had plenty of interesting ideas to offer and also showed a great deal of potential with Fantasma’s musical direction. I can guarantee that this experience wasn’t a generic and uninspiring output that would leave anyone feeling unamused or disgusted, rather a very well-thought out work that could get the attention from a solid number of oldschool black metal fans. I highly recommend that you check out Abomination Of Human Pestilence, and also make sure to check out their previously released EP Benevento Black Metal. 

Rating: 8.6 out of 10