Caustic Wound – Grinding Mechanism of Torment Review

By Saunders

Back in the strange old days of 2020, Seattle’s Caustic Wound detonated a skin-blasting deathgrind debut, entitled Death Posture. It landed on my end-of-year list and has remained a staple since. Comprised of like-minded scene veterans, including members of Mortiferum and Magrudergrind, Caustic Wound skillfully weld brutal, old-school death and grindcore influences into a raw, gnarly, riff rumbling beast. Death Posture’s dirty, unrefined production and reeky, terrorizing attack lent it a dangerous, unhinged edge, complimented by its infectious riffcraft and ugly underground values. Fast forward to the present and Caustic Wound reappear hellbent to fuck things up in their wickedly violent, deranged way. The efficient, action-packed platter of splattery goodness gets the job done in under half an hour, rifling through sixteen sharp, savvy and utterly punishing deathgrind bursts. With all the pieces in place, can Caustic Wound back up their impressively savage debut and capitalize on their prior groundwork with a sophomore album to savor?

Grinding Mechanism of Torment picks up where its predecessor left off, albeit offering a freshly inspired take on the bare-bones aesthetics and raw buzz of the debut. First and foremost, this shit maintains the band’s brutally raging, guttural thrust and blast riddled form of deathgrind mayhem, featuring the thrashy, artery slashing hooks and gore spattered flair to do Exhumed and Impaled proud, Caustic Wound have sharpened their weapons of butchery and refined their sound, without compromising the blasty, grind-fueled punch and exhilarating blast of the debut. This is partly attributed to a cleaner, more refined, though still appropriately thick, beefy production job that stays true to their brutal underground roots. The tidier sonic aspects fail to diminish the savage old school charms and full throttle grind attacks that litter the album (“Advanced Killing Methods,” “Human Shield,” “Endless Grave,” “Dead Dog”).

Without discarding those classic death and grind influences of yesteryear, the influences reach a little broader, encompassing the occasional d-beaten Swedeath smackdown, hardcore stomp, and nods to the early days of legends such as Napalm Death, Cannibal Corpse and Terrorizer. Equipped with a bevy of killer riffs, the songs penetrate the memory bank. The buzzsawing, uppercutting riffs are uniformly strong, regardless of speed, but especially when Caustic Wound occasionally lay off the relentless pace and unleash the Leng Tch’e-esque groove and grind sections (check the sludgy, groovy crush of “Drone Terror” or insanely hooky riffs of “Blood Battery” as primo examples). Elsewhere, wild solos punctuate the chaos (“Infinite Chaos,” “Blackout”) and Clyde Lindstrom’s (Corpus Offal, Fetid) meaty, phlegmy vocal eruptions enlivens and adds a feral, guttural punch to proceedings, lending character and deceptive variety, not content to fall into being an unremarkable rhythmic afterthought. Not content to play it safe, closer “Into Cold Deaf Universe” dabbles in slow building, sludgy discordance, and samples before eventually mutating into a deadly deathgrind epic, unloading across nearly seven minutes of blasting and caterwauling noise, capping the album in momentously chaotic, violent fashion.

Despite the cleaner sonic palette, Grinding Mechanism of Torment packs a hefty wallop in the heaviness and brutality stakes, and is anything but a run-of-the-mill example of old school deathgrind. Chase Slaker and Max Bowman wield their axes with feral abandon amid lightning bursts of speed, vice-tight interlocking riffs, and divebombing solos. The riffs are a constant highlight and the deeper emphasis on thick, headbanging grooves unlocks some seriously chunky, infectious moments, such as the vicious outro of the grindy “Sniper Nest,” and swaggering grooves of “Horrible Earth Death.” Amidst the speedy focal point and blast riddled displays, the rhythm section of bassist Tony Wolfe and drummer Casey Moore do a bang-up job of driving this deathgrind killing machine and locking down the mean, violent grooves punctuating the album.

Death Posture established Caustic Wound as a deathgrind powerhouse to be reckoned with, embracing classic death and grind values, executed with fresh and frenzied flair. Some of those endearing, caveman charms of the debut cannot be recreated in the more refined format. As such Grinding Mechanism of Torment may lose some of the wild, unhinged edges of the debut. However, the album compensates through its addictive riffcraft and diverse, though still plenty brutal display of deathgrind lunacy, expanding their songwriting scope and marking a grisly, bone-crunching, and righteously infectious return.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Profound Lore
Website: Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: April 25th, 2025

#2025 #40 #AmericanMetal #CausticWound #CorpusOffal #DeathMetal #Deathgrind #Exhumed #Fetid #Grindcore #GrindingMechanismOfTorment #Impaled #LengTchE #Magrudergrind #Mortiferum #NapalmDeath #ProfoundLore #Review #Reviews #Terrorizer

Sijjin – Helljjin Combat Review

By Mark Z.

I’ve heard people say that today’s music has nothing new to offer, but I actually think it has the opposite problem. To me, there are too many fucking bands out there playing technical blackened dissodeath with a tuba or some shit and not enough who simply take a tried-and-true style and execute it well. Such was what initially drew me to Sijjin. Right around the time their infamous doom-death band Necros Christos dissolved in 2021, bassist/vocalist Malte Gericke and drummer Iván Hernández joined forces with guitarist Ekaitz Garmendia (Legen Beltza) to pay homage to the earliest years of death metal with Sijjin’s full-length debut, Sumerian Promises. With its twisted tremolos and thrashy undercurrents, Sumerian Promises was a fun throwback that reeked with the archaic death stench of bands like Sadistic Intent, Mortem, Atomic Aggressor, and early Morbid Angel. Almost four years later, the group have now finally delivered their second album, Helljjin Combat. But is this a triumphant victory or yet another casualty of the heavy metal battlefield?

One thing is clear: Helljjin Combat is quite a bit different than its predecessor. The change in approach is apparent right from the opener, “Fear Not the Tormentor,” which begins with an extended instrumental opening that uses technical riffing and lively bass guitar in a way that almost sounds like Voivod. The tech-thrash vibe continues throughout the songs’s eight-and-a-half minute runtime, with dexterous fretwork trading off with quick, chunky chords and twirling tremolos, all anchored by a refrain that consists of a staccato shout of the track title. While it’s not the primitive death-thrash I was looking for, it’s a fine song in its own right.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album isn’t quite as successful in executing the band’s new style. It soon becomes apparent that many of these eight tracks spend less time delivering sharp hooks and memorable riffs and more time simply lurching forward on mid-paced pseudo-grooves that only occasionally get the head bobbing. Sometimes, interesting ideas will crop up, like when “Religious Insanity Denies Slavery” evokes old Metallica with a dusty, cleanly-picked midsection that builds into Old West-style lead guitars. Yet moments like this only make it more apparent how so much of the surrounding material fails to stand out. It doesn’t help that none of these songs are under five minutes, and it’s also unfortunate how many of them open with similar-sounding semi-technical riffs that make me contemplate hitting the stop button well before the album’s 49 minutes are over. Malte’s vocals also sound throatier and less raspy than on Sumerian Promises, which is fitting for the band’s new approach but still isn’t the most welcome change.

Fortunately, there’s some stuff to enjoy here. The two pre-release songs, “Dakhma Curse” and “Five Blades,” probably won’t make anyone’s Song ‘O the Year List, but at least their nimble riffing and quicker rhythms offer the album a nice shot of energy. “The Southern Temple” serves as a decent closer with the more powerful riffing in its second half, and the band’s instrumental prowess is more impressive than ever (especially Ekaitz’s adept riffing and solos). Ekaitz recorded the album in his own studio in the Basque Country, and the result is fantastic. The sound is clear and powerful, with the guitars roaring confidently and the bass guitar maintaining an active and distinct presence below the riffing. And while the atmosphere isn’t as strong as the debut, there’s still a whiff of ancient evil here that I find most welcome.

Yet ultimately, Helljjin Combat is the epitome of a Mixed bag. While the production and the instrumental performances are great, the songwriting is less compelling. With a few sharper hooks, tighter track lengths, and a couple of faster songs, Helljjin Combat could have easily been better than Sumerian Promises. As it is, I can’t help but be a bit disappointed that not only did Sijjin choose to move away from death metal and into a more technical thrash metal sound, but also that they didn’t do the best job executing this new style. While there are a couple of decent songs and some impressive things here, I don’t see Helljjin Combat as an album I’ll be returning to often.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Sepulchral Voice Records
Websites: sijjin.bandcamp.com | Facebook | instagram.com/sijjin_official
Releases Worldwide: April 25th, 2025

#25 #2025 #Apr25 #AtomicAggressor #DeathMetal #HelljjinCombat #InternationalMetal #LegenBeltza #Metallica #MorbidAngel #Mortem #NecrosChristos #Review #Reviews #SadisticIntent #SepulchralVoiceRecords #Sijjin #ThrashMetal #Voivod

Benthos – From Nothing Review

By Dear Hollow

It’s sexy when things you love collide with things you hate. My lust for mathcore is well-established – I go hard for that mind-numbing dyscalculic tinnitus any day – but if you put a slab of prog metal in front of me, I’m gonna go as flaccid as a gummy worm in a hot car faster than you can say “Wilderun.” That’s Benthos. The Italian collective slides a platter of progressive rock’s lush, ambivalent, and emotive movements alongside mathcore’s jagged edges and feral energy, and you’re guaranteed to find something you’ll love and hate – and get hot and bothered by. It’s core’s sellout and prog’s elitism personified in the dichotomy of the heavenly and hellish – yet in your divinely appointed and coarsely deadly free will, you decide which is which. In the words of the wisest, “yeet and yoink” with this particular Haken-themed hatefuck.

Benthos has been around since 2018, and gained recognition in their hometown of Milan by opening for The Contortionist and appearing in the Dissonance Festival in 2023. From Nothing is their debut full-length, although they released the ironically titled EP/mini-album II in 2021. Settled upon a foundation of lush melodies and evasive chord progressions before exploding into frantic Dillinger-inspired rhythm abuse, the act wavers between super serious and frantically silly, soulful cleans colliding haphazardly with demonic shrieks. From Nothing is ambitious in fusing two styles strangely congruous but also not at all, but in the end Benthos is exactly split down the middle, its arrhythmic beatdowns stealing the spotlight from masturbatory prog sections, blurring into some ambivalently erotic background.

First glances of Benthos are synth-heavy progressions and killer vocals. Gabriele Landillo has a formidable set of pipes, their post-hardcore-meets-Chino Moreno vibe lending a creeping sexiness (“Let Me Plunge,” “The Giant Child”) and a desperate belt that adds serious dynamic and show-stealing propensity (“From Nothing,” “Pure”), keeping the more uninteresting passages from descending into drearier monotony. Without careful listening, however, the proggier tracks blur together in a blurry pastel mesh in sprawling layered atmospheric rock tricks – serious synth on guitar action – with interspersed chuggy portions, feeling like a less nuanced songwriting a la (recent) The Contortionist or The Fall of Troy. Speaking of your favorite dark romance crooner Chino, From Nothing feels quite a bit like Deftones’ Gore in its decision to put include metal as a mere monument marker on the jaded journey to the pits of prog – ultimately, a bit of a cockblock. Benthos mixing is likewise stellar, Alberto Fiorani’s dummy thicc bass as audible as the cheek-clapping guitars and slamming drums.

Of its two audio halves, Benthos’ more chaotic mathcore attacks offer the best listening experience. After the vastly longwinded four-song introductory blur, the intro to “As a Cordyceps” introduces what makes From Nothing worth a bit more. Practically brimming with energy, the mathcore technicality and hardcore intensity finally kick in. This continues into the easy highlights that dispense the prog fluff into something that feels cutthroat and quirky, wonky leads weaponized with nimble and mind-bending rhythms (“Fossil,” “Athletic Worms,” “Perpetual Drone Monkeys”). These give Benthos more breathing room when the proggy sensibilities raise their ill-smelling feet, offering nuance to otherwise unwelcoming rooms. These also incorporate more of these chunkier vibes into more mundane moments, letting the rhythms inject a tasteful – albeit short-lived – dose of intensity (“The Giant Child,” “Pure”).

The best and worst part about From Nothing is that Benthos manages to sound both bored to tears and absolutely apeshit depending on which part you tune into. Its moments of unhinged insanity are too few and far between to warrant consistency or balance… or a solid recommendation. But if you’re like Dolphin Whisperer and like your music hot and heavy, while disrobing From Nothing’s many sexy layers and textured sprawls, take a cold shower before venturing out to pick up a copy.1 Benthos offers promise with the softness for the foreplay and the vigor for the penetration, but From Nothing has difficulty keeping it up across its forty-five minute runtime with too-long portions of pretty monotony2 and excessive indulgence,3 but armed with a vocalist both sexy and devastating and an instrumental presence as bonkers as it is patient… goddammit, I need a cold shower now.4

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Inside Out Music
Websites: benthosmusic.bandcamp.com | benthos-band.com | facebook.com/benthosbandofficial
Releases Worldwide: April 11th, 2025

#25 #2025 #Apr25 #Benthos #Deftones #FromNothing #Haken #InsideOutMusic #ItalianMetal #Mathcore #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveRock #Review #Reviews #TheContortionist #TheDillingerEscapePlan #TheFallOfTroy #Wilderun

[Read in full on NHAM]

If you are a music nerd like me, you may or may not have come across the term ‘Bonk Wave’.

If you also are as curious as I am and actually did come across the term, you may have asked yourself, ‘What the Bonk is Bonk Wave?!’

Here’s an attempt at an answer, from the makers of the bonkwave.org website: ‘If you don’t know what Bonk Wave is, don’t worry, we don’t really know either.’¹

It could be an ‘experimental omni-genre or a style-agnostic genre,’ but quite certainly it is ‘an open and inclusive community, promoting freedom of artistic expression.’

That sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? Right! So, let’s dig deeper. Because, there’s a new compilation called ‘Not Bonk What I Call Wave: Remixes Vol 2’.

First impression: wow, almost all of the artists are Fediverse-adjacent with their own Mastodon account, several have a Faircamp or Bandwagon or Mirlo page.

Next, the entire album can be listened to on the site. No Linktree, no Spotify, no Amazapple, just click play.

Well then, let’s play!

1. ‘Genus’ by C. Circo (Socool Remix)

Sweet! Opening with airy, atmospheric chord layers, this quickly grows to a shouldn’t-we-dance track that sucks you in with its glistening synth arpeggios. Very reduced, wide open, with nods to chill-out, drum&bass soundscapes, even some electronica pioneers vibes.

2. ‘C’est quoi (le bonkwave)’ by sknob (Reverb 10000 Mix)

Ah, now I know what they mean when they suggest that Bonk Wave could be an ‘experimental omni-genre’. This one opens with a campfire acoustic guitar, joined by layers of straying, meandering synth bits, like little spiders weaving a collective web. Throwing in a clean, prominent melody and adding a vocal line and several voice snippets, asking but not answering the age-old question, ‘what is bonk wave’, finally dropping a dry, straightforward snare, this track holds enough surprises for twice its length.

3. ‘Bonkitty’ by Mighty Mousers feat. Rubia (n3wjack’s bonkers catnip remix)

Don’t judge a book by its cover! The first few seconds of this could develop into a proper Doo-Wop performance, when Rubia plays with the word ‘Bonkitty’. But no, in comes a completely unhinged, unleashed drum&bass/jungle-ish highspeed beat. Aphex Triplet? Squarepusher’s cousin? With lots of humour, at any rate, certainly when Bonkitty starts meowing. The remix title ‘bonkers catnip’ seems quite apt. In a very good way!

4. ‘La sieste/Don’t Mind Me’ by sknob (Reverb 10000 Chausettes et Chaussons Mix)

Let an indie band and two or three electronica afficionados take a trip in a time machine back to the late fifties, early sixties and get hired by an independent French Noir film producer to compose a score for a flick that tells a sad love story with a twist — et voilà. Sounds improbable? Well, to this day there are no time machines, I’ll give you that.

5. ‘ion’ by Socool (C. Circo remix)

Wait a minute, wasn’t there a Socool remix of a C. Circo track just now? Indeed, there was, and boy, is this a fruitful collab, no matter which remixes which! A demure drum&bass beat trickles twinkle-toed through warm, embracing, dreamy yet vibrant synth lines and soundscapes, flowing and ebbing like a long breath. This one almost demands to be put on loop.

6. ‘Bonkwave Bouillabaisse’ by Ordos Mk.0

Wikipedia tells us that ‘Bouillabaisse (/ˌbuːjəˈbɛs/) is a traditional Provençal fish soup originating in the port city of Marseille.’ Or, minus the fish, a mix soup made of ten different tracks out of the BonkWaveVerse (or hoewever else you might call that realm of musique extraordinaire). Smoothly simmering, very yummy, very tasty!

7. ‘You’re Diamonds’ by XymMusic (Default Media Transmitter remix)

Something resembling an 80s track (think Joy Division, Cocteau Twins) lingers in the early morning air after a sweaty party. Suddenly, out of the dawning blue, it gets torn apart in a furious rage by digi-tribal drums to churning shreds of vocal and synth lines. The pure, relentless energy is breathtaking.

8. ‘Transistor Heaven’ by Traiken (n3wjack’s broken circuit remix)

Broken does not necessarily mean kaput. What’s broken can be repaired. But this track, as broken as it might seem, does not need fixing. Its distorted synths, the otherworldly voices from an old tube radio, the sacral, hymnic organ chords, all together form a five-minute journey into the inner spaces where electrons live. I can see sunrays fingering across the horizon, and if I was a transistor, I might very well feel like being in Heaven!

9. ‘All Around’ by Secret Deal (AxWax Remix)

History not always repeats itself; sometimes it comes back in several bits from various eras to fuse and show up fresh and shiny to the party. In this particular case, it gets revived by synth cords with strong eighties vibes, arpeggios from the aughts, a funky bassline and guitar licks that could even have been relocated from the seventies, beats that have parents in nineties French house, and a lot of vocoder (which is somewhat timeless). Kind of a best-of-all-worlds scenario, and certainly great dancefloor charge!

10. ‘C’est quoi (le bonkwave)’ by sknob (C. Circo remix)

One very appealing aspect of this compilation (and possibly the Bonk Wave community, too) is the strong sense of collaboration it underlines. Of course, those are all remixes, so, duh! But on top of that, it’s a select group of artists who seem to inspire and nurture one another, almost like a cooperative, which I think is beautiful. Here we have sknob’s track again, remixed by C. Circo who also participated with the album opener ‘Genus’ and did a remix of Socool’s ‘ion’. ‘C’est quoi…’ has all the fine features those other tracks do — taken to yet another energy level by a very prominent, forward-pushing drums/sub-bassline combination.

11. ‘かにの歌’ by 魚, or sakana

DeepL, the translation algorithm that works best and also fuels many Mastodon instances’ translations, says that the title of this track means ‘song of the crab’ or ‘The Crab Song’. And the liner notes on bonkwave.org invite us to ‘feel the bonk vibe coming from a dark and smoky underground venue somewhere downtown Osaka.’ It is another one of those mash-up, merging remixes that combine more than one source. Three tracks in this case, and quick first impressions of those tell me that 魚 has created an entirely unique piece of music that seems to take inspiration, but not much actual material from the originals. Imagine crabs talking (yes, really), a coffee machine running, and Japanese vocoder lyrics meeting with a humming, droning synthscape and some reduced, serene chords. Possibly not everyone’s cup of matcha or sencha, but a stunning and compelling work of art for sure!

12. ‘The Snag in Your Makeshift Cape’ by Traiken (AxWax Remix)

The original track is an upbeat dance track that draws us in with its surprising and sometimes unusual chord progressions. The remix takes those, performs them with string samples, strips away the beat and sends the strings through various effect processor worlds — but what sounds simple, mechanical even, when you put it like this, in actuality brings forth an emotional depth that keeps you on you toes. Think Samuel Barber being played on board the Deep Space 9. Take a look outside the window and marvel in awe at the vast infinity around you.

13. ‘Is it really bonk dust if it is animated by strange data?’ by XymMusic

‘We’re born from the Bonk. We live in the Bonk. And when we die, we will return to the Bonk. In the end, we’re all just Bonk dust.’ Proclaims a neutral yet sonorous male voice over a sinister synth drone, accompanied by a female choir singing Japanese words of a meaning unbeknownst to me. Five tracks by four different artists are the sources for this mash-up/remix/recombination that evokes images of processions, dark corners in horror films, flashing screens of TV announcements and interviews. Do we really want to go down that path? Well, do we have a choice? ‘We’re born. We live. We die.’

To complete this — well, is it an actual review? Or rather, a stream of consciousness? — anyway, to complete it, let me add links to the Fediverse profiles of all the artists involved, in order of appearance:

@CCirco
@socool
@sknob
@yonder
@rybson
@n3wjack
@ordosmarkzero
@defaultmediatransmitter
@Traiken
@SecretDeal
@axwax

Cave Sermon – Fragile Wings Review

By Thus Spoke

For the second year in a row, I was blindsided by a silent Cave Sermon drop. At least it didn’t take me 11 months to catch up this time.1 Album number three, Fragile Wings, sees Charlie Parks returning as a solo act, but now handling vocals on top of everything else. This latter is a welcome development, given how well the previous record proved vocals complement and enhance the unique musical style. After Divine Laughter blew my socks off and nonchalantly pushed its way to the top half of my 2024 year-end list, a follow-up so soon filled me with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Surely he couldn’t do it again? But, of course, he has.

Fragile Wings is instantly recognisable as Cave Sermon, but rather than simply being Divine Laughter part two—not that I would have complained about that—it is tonally quite different. Different, but with the same dreamlike longing at its core. Whereas its predecessor felt nihilistic and angry, Fragile Wings is a little more vulnerable, a little sadder, and more wistful. This shines through the now more prominent melodies, which feel playful and exuberant, in the beguiling way that characterises Cave Sermon’s sound. Fluid layers of liquid strums, riffs that vibrate alternately with urgency and mirth (“Hopeless Magic,” “”Moloch”), and tremolos that burr and hum as much as they warble like songbirds up and down scales (“Three-Headed Moth,” “Ancient to Someone”). The untamed tempos that lead tracks through a series of stomps, sways, charges, and thoughtful pauses are more mischievous than before, in a way that makes explicit the spirited defiance that bubbled within Divine Laughter. Parks’ vocals work just as well as Miguel Méndez’s did, if not better, against this vibrant backdrop, and there’s an additional weight given to the already strange and touching lyrics because their author is now delivering them himself.

Fragile Wings is stirring and vivacious, and somehow outdoes Divine Laughter in its sparkling dynamism and bright unusualness. After arresting with odd, colourful arrangements, Cave Sermon looks wryly over at the listener and says, “watch this,” as some effervescent lead comes frolicking in (“Moloch,” “Three-Headed Moth”), or an already satisfying groove switches to a new dance with a flick and a crash (“Hopeless Magic,” “Ancient for Someone”); you can’t help but smile back. The very way guitars are distorted, and the atmosphere surrounding their notes and the here-skittish, there-assertive percussion, is…different. And this is all charming because it’s not self-indulgent; not weird and challenging and complicated, but refreshing, like a splash of cool water to the face on a hot day. All the more so given how Cave Sermon makes it look easy, creating a soundscape that seems simpler than it is, managing to presage and reprise melodies and rhythms in a way I can only describe as “very cool.” Interwoven strands of ethereal ambience—warm strums and purring high notes (“Arrows and Clay,” “Sunless Morning”)—violent sludgy riffs and a tripping, resonant drumbeat (“Moloch,” “Ancient for Someone”); symphonies of burbling tremolo and synths (“Hopeless Magic,” “Ancient for Someone”); and the delicate assuredness of wavering melodies, each are so carefully placed, but weightless, as though carried by some spirited wind that breezes through each track.

In this organic, careless novelty and expression, Fragile Wings continues what Divine Laughter established, but does it better. Not only is it more poignant, it flows with a more tangible through-line, and even cleverer rhythmic interplay. There is no track-length ambient noise here; this tendency is relegated to the faded conversation that closes “Arrows and Clay,” and the birdsong scattered over the serene first act of “Sunless Morning.” The difference is that these are not divorced from the music, but part of it, contributing to its sense of nostalgia, and sombre reflectiveness. A harsher version of me would still argue that the first half of “Sunless Morning” is a bit too slow of a build, but another would gesture fanatically at the song’s second act, with its quaking bass refrain and heartfelt tremolo descent melody that might actually be the best on the album, before it enters another wild dance I won’t spoil. Cave Sermon has refined their ability to transition between energies and styles whilst keeping the tone consistent. So seamless is the integration that it no longer feels like multiple genres are in play, but like a new one entirely.

Fragile Wings confirms what I had secretly hoped, that Divine Laughter was not just lightning in a bottle. If anything, it only raises the bar. Cave Sermon create music that is some magical combination of emotionally stirring, endlessly engrossing, and completely unique. There is simply no other artist in metal making music like them.2 You have to hear this.

Rating: Excellent3
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Self-Release
Website: Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: April 16th, 2025

#2025 #45 #Apr25 #AustralianMetal #BlackMetal #CaveSermon #DeathMetal #ExperimentalMetal #FragileWings #PostMetal #Review #Reviews #SelfReleased #Sludge