Steeped in a horrifying glaze of dark otherness, the new Ectoplasma record is a feast for your twitching senses.

Since 2104, Ectoplasma has been spreading its dank word in the heavy metal scene. Springing up from Greece, this throat-punching death metal act has released a host of EPs and splits, plus three previous long-players, most recently White-Eyed Trance (2019). According to the band, the new album “shamelessly manifested their devotion to muddy, organic, disgusting, bone-breaking, and rotten-to-the-core death metal.” Who would argue with a musical self-description like that? The credited musicians on the new album are Giannis Grim (vocals and bass) and Dimitris Sakkas (guitar and drums).

Nicely fuzzy guitars startle the death metal arrangement on the first song, “God Is Dead, Satan Lives (Rosemary’s Baby).” A welcome groove steps in fairly early in the track and gives it pace and wings. “Appalling Abomination” has a darker initial presence, and a thicker heaviness. The beehive gets broken open in the first minute, however, and whirling, dizzying speed takes over. And then the groove kicks in again. I am liking this combination.

Later on, the title track bears the band’s death metal teeth and the gruff vocalizations are their most sinister so far. The bass line that opens “Gruesome Sacred Orgasms” is most inviting, and the stabby nature of the following riffs thoroughly sells the concept of the song title. “Filth-Ridden Flesh” offers callbacks to earlier tracks, and the closer drips hot, toxic wax on the set with a menacing cadence. There were a number of good surprises on the album and overall it hit the right spots for me. Recommended.

Inferna Kabbalah sprang to life on January 24^th through Memento Mori and Rotted Life. Touch the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://ectoplasma187.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Ectoplasma-1579524392276613

Memento Mori, http://www.memento-mori.es/

Rotted Life, https://www.rottedlife.com/