Melbourne

Nefariym, Morbid Delusions (Inverse Records 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , ,

The debut full-length album from Nefariym tears open the fabric of musical reality: Morbid Delusions.

Coming together only two years ago, Melbourne, Australia’s Nefariym was created by veteran metallers Mark Kelson and Richie Poate. The music can generally be thought of as Death Metal with the duo’s own novel twists with plenty of Doom and Sludge in the mix as well. There have been a couple singles released by the band but this album is the first deep journey fans can listen to and assess.

The album contains an intro piece, nine new songs, and a cover of a metal classic. The first full track is “Succubus” and the band comes out blasting with a monstrous adrenaline-fueled assault from every instrument. Black/Death Metal hybrid vocals give the song the perfect tinge. “A Morbid Delusion” follows and it is another ripper – a high speed conundrum for your brain that’ll need a minute to process. The production lays together the rhythm with the vocals with a harmony guitar line that fills the entire available space, while an early lead break sounds like a madman railing against the injustices of existence.

Toward the end of “A Morbid Delusion” the tempo slows a bit and provides a perfect segue to “Tearing Flesh From The Bone” which has an excellent Sludge/Doom essence. This is my favorite track for its sheer heaviness and the unforgettable refrain. Throughout the album the alternating between high-tempo songs and slower doomers is enthralling. I found the entire set captivating, including the cover of Celtic Frost’s “Circle Of The Tyrants,” which both provides an anchor for the album and delivers an homage. Highly recommended.

Morbid Delusions hits the streets on Friday September 24th through Inverse Records.

Links.

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

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/nefariym

Nefariym website, https://nefariym.com/

Inverse Records, https://www.inverse.fi/shop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=939

Nefariym, Morbid Delusions (Inverse Records 2021)

Plum Green, Somnambulistic (Nefarious Industries 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Back with a new collection of beautifully dark songs, Plum Green releases Somnambulistic.

Plum Green is from Melbourne, Australia. She has released a string of captivating albums in the last decade that that convey solemnity, almost as a berceuse for the grave. This is especially true on the new album. The music is dark and quiet, and it leaves an impression.

The opening song begins with beautiful, soothing, lyrical passages, but in a way that could be the soundtrack to euthanasia. That first track, “Raspberry Vine,” is very much what I mean when I talk about Acoustic Doom. In the press materials, the music is described as “atmospheric dream folk,” and I like that description, too. It is the emotion that is heavy and that does not require loudness.

There are strong gothic elements here as well. In the second track, “Eyes Shut,” the vocalizations draw a strong eidolon of Johnette Napolitano without really sounding much like her. It is bewitching, this music. It takes you away with its gentleness and at the same time has an emotionally penetrating effect. Like the singing of a wraith that means you no harm – or appears to mean you no harm – you find yourself trusting the music to have a meaningful effect on you.

The strings on “Grave Snuggler” have a hypnotizing effect. And Green’s voice, of course. Every track is enchanting and mysterious. The vocal duet on “Belleza Nocturna” was a surprise and it fit in perfectly with the rest of the set. Eerie, engaging, and unforgettable, Plum Green is an artist you should know about. Start with this new album and work your way backward through the catalogue. What you will find might surprise you. Recommended.

Somnambulistic is available on September 17th through Nefarious Industries. Explore the links below.

Band photo by Zach Salar.

Links.

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

Plum Green website, http://www.plumgreenmusic.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/plumgreenmusic

Nefarious Industries, https://www.nefariousindustries.com/collections/new-releases/products/somnambulistic

Plum Green, Somnambulistic (Nefarious Industries 2021)

Plasmodium, Towers Of Silence (Transcending Obscurity 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

The caustic ululations from down under can only mean that Plasmodium has released a new album.

Australian chaos cohorts Plasmodium ripped the lid off of reason in 2016 with their first album, Entheognosis. The menace that began with those four songs continues on Towers Of Silence, another loose approximation to coherence.

There are five tracks on the new album. The first two are short, noisy explosions. I am not sure if they are meant to terrify the listener, but they could have that effect. The pace is furious and the direction of the music is more of a flurry than a path.

“Pseudocidal” is a free-form expression that lays an ambient bed and lets the drums run wild. Vocalizations are more subdued than they were in the openers and even become discernable after a few minutes. The percussion seems to be on about something and you find that reassuring in the otherwise worrisome surroundings.

The last two songs on the album a big ones, “Translucinophobia” and “Vertexginous,” having a running time over thirty minutes between them. The former is like an extended Alexandrian campaign in an unknown land and the latter is more like a journey through an extended purgatorial menace that ends badly. This is metal music, heavy music, dark music, but there is nothing to reliably compare it to because of the general lack of core elements. The thought of what Plasmodium might create next is a churning maelstrom of bewildering possibilities.

I have listened to about fifty releases from Transcending Obscurity over the last many months and this one is by far the strangest. If you are up for the challenge, Towers Of Silence is out now. There is no telling what door it might open for you.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://plasmodiumdeath.bandcamp.com/album/towers-of-silence-cosmic-black-death-metal

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Undulator/

Plasmodium, Towers Of Silence (Transcending Obscurity 2021)