[Archive] ISC Podcast Ep. 32 - Feral ‘To USurp The Thrones’ & RVVKVS ‘Antithesis Of Prosperity’ LP REVIEWS.

MusicReviewsAlbum Reviews
Written By Brady Irwin

Note: This was originally posted to our previous website (RIP) late 2024, with both album reviews being segmented into individual posts.

In order to preserve the new ordering and format of podcast episodes, I have included both reviews in the one blog article on the new site.

See beginning of post for all podcast links, with the written show-notes/reviews further below, as well as individual artist links.

Both of these albums are absolute rippers - highly encourage checking them both out. Support the scene.

Peace, Love and Grindcore xoxo - Brady.

PODCAST LINK (FERAL & RVVKS ALBUM REVIEWS):

Note: ISC Podcast is also available on: Our Youtube Podcast Page, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, GoodPods, iHeartRadio, PocketCasts and RadioPublic.

 

Artwork by Costin Chioreanu (Grave)

feral ‘To usurp the thrones’ LP - written review:

NOTE: The full-album stream is now available via the indomitable label Transcending Obscurity Records as of today!

See below for links to the full album stream premiere via TO Youtube channel, plus artist/merch links.

Enjoy. I know I did.

 

Old-school HM-2 worship isn't exactly a new trend in the extreme metal scene. That said, in recent years those who plumb the depths of distortion-soaked depravity (think Necrot, and the like) have garnered a massive following and with rightful cause. My hunch is that, following advances in audio production and the subsequent crystal-cleer sheen we saw layered over production across the 2010s, our post-lockdown brains have been clamouring for something a little more... feral.

Bad puns aside, try as their international imitators might, not many can capture the pure grime-laden-dungeon aesthetic of old-school-cool like Swedish natives.

Enter Feral, a Svenska outfit formed in the early 2000's by a rabble of death-metal rousers from a slew of extreme metal projects. A hiatus in the late-aughts precipitated a return to form with truly nasty business ranging from the necromantic overtures of their Welcome To The Graveyard Demo, all the way up to the caustic Flesh For Funerals Eternal LP in 2018.

A nasty little sampler in the form of late 2023's split with Crawl saw movement in the cemetery, and with latest release To Usurp The Thrones, the lich has truly awoken.

That lich is both pissed off as hell and absolutely Jonesing for a fun time. Can confirm, the entire album is an exercise in pure death metal mirth from start to finish.

Opener 'To Drain The World of Light' kicks things off exactly as you'd expect - the classic-era refrains of guitarists Markus Lindahl and Sebastian Lejon caught up by snarling frontman David Nilsson. Riding acrest a very d-beat styled backing from skinsman Roger Markström the murky depths of Viktor Klingstedt on bass, it's a no-frills but competently vicious offering with not one hint of pretence.

You're reminded why troglodytes on social media and Discord servers still harp on about 'true' death metal these days with this album. 'Vile Malediction' refuses to bend the knee to the overarching climate of experimentation in the broader death metal scene, choosing instead to pursue forward with a groove-laden wall of thuggery that demands little else than headbanging and a shit-eating grin. Employing a bit more of a wide tempo swing, there's a strong Grave ethos here. It's simplistic but cavernous, without having to resort to fifty reverb pedals to achieve an imposing aural presence.

'Deformed Mentality' does away with gear down-shifting, choosing instead to halve the prior track's run-time. Balancing ringing power chords alongside blast-heavy sections and lead flourishes, there's a sense of focus and urgency to this track that is maintained across the album as a whole. No time to pontificate on introspective themes when you're busy steamrolling a production line of riffage that is designed for one thing... fun. Pure, malicious fun.

That sneering sense of malignant mirth sees no interruption as we cross straight over into the evil oozing of 'Bound To The Dead'. Incorporating requisite tremolo flourishes with a stampeding midsection, there's a clear objective evident amongst the riff-cacophony - getting heads banging. Having listened to the LP on the couch, in the car and at the gym, I can confirm tracks such as this one demand psychomotor agitation at least somewhere in the body at all times.

The impetus to have the head bobbing bare-minimum is imposed with no less fervour on the devilish and monolithic intro to follow-up 'The Devouring Storm'. Opting to hang back and let those stereotypically-Swedish refrains lilt about a bit, any seasoned death metal patrician knows what's up next. Blasting into a wall of tight riffage that feels as unrestrained as it does militaristic, the push-pull dynamic feels like procedurally generated OSDM fury straight from the textbook.

Which isn't to say this album is generic. Not by any measure! For further proof, listen onwards to the up-tempo stampede of 'Spirits Without Rest'. Giving the mid-tempo swing a backseat for a minute, there's an urgent ferocity to this number that keeps up throughout. It takes a deft artist to maintain a sense of hooky groove without lapsing into tired songwriting tropes. This blaster of a piece demonstrates Feral's skills in that department to no end, carefully balancing catchiness with barbaric pummelling.

The overwhelming barrage of raucous roars and howls rolling over the double-kick pommel of 'Decimated' likewise imposes an aesthetic that wouldn't look out of place on the cover of an OG Dungeons and Dragons supplement. Brutish, snarling and minimalist, there's a hint of the early heyday marriage to punk rock that perpetuates an overall feel of primal, raw power.

Much like the prior track, 'Phantoms of Antiquity' induces a testosterone-soaked bludgeoning ethos. Rumbling bass sections add to the aforementioned punk ethos, but it's readily apparent from the clawing leads and tremolo that the band refuse to stray too far from an old-school metal home base. It's at that this stage of the album that listeners wanting I don't know, an ambient interlude with a pitch-shifted quote about space or something, would likely be fatiguing. I don't think Feral care, and frankly neither do I.

Wasting little time with accoutrements and fanciful prog, the prior track cleverly belies an almost-surprising uptick once more in 'Soaked in Blood'. This is where the whole band goes completely mental, bass and guitars seeming in fisticuffs as skins and drums join the competition for sonic space. Again, it's not reinventing the wheel, but as the repetitive refrains of the title are screeched towards the end, we're reminded that the oldschool Dismembered-coded palette doesn't necessarily mean a lack of variety, either.

Perhaps also accounting for our modern attention spans (or lack thereof), it seems the band have kept that need for novelty in mind via 'Into The Ashes of History'. Once again, rather than inject some four-minute jazz-fusion exploratory section because ??reasons??, the band choose instead to showcase a whole plethora of late-80's/early-90's death metal flavour across 6 and a half minutes. Sweeping from horror-movie styled slow leads into a menagerie of gang-chants and spindly riffage, this lengthier track is possibly the most trope-laden of all. But it's employed with such fun and feverish energy, you can't help but keep ears peeled and neck swivelling even in those down-tempo moments.

And of course, what traditionalist OSDM-worship band would be doing their job if they didn't finish with an absolute barn-burner? 'Stripped of Flesh' sweeps the carnage and viscera from the factory floor, menacing and unrelenting for a final few blasting minutes of chunky distortion. Weaving in and out of stoic, stomping riffage and completely unhinged mania, trilling leads are swept aside for an equally abrupt and unapologetic ending by way of brute force. A fitting end to an unapologetic and brutally fun album.

Overall, To Usurp The Thrones is the equivalent of that one local place who does great Chinese food. You know it's going to be unhealthy. Your senses know exactly what to expect. Like Chinese food, old-school death metal is so readily prepared, it feels like anyone can offer up a serving. At times, this also can imply the risk of a bland offering.

Fortunately, like a solid restauranteur, Feral know exactly how to work a tried-and-true set menu in ways that'll have you inexplicably satiated and starving for more at the same time.

LINKS:

Full-Album Stream (Youtube):

 
 

PRETTY MERCH!

 

RVVKVS - 'Antithesis of Prosperity' (Written REview):

 

Ah, New Zealand. The forever ripped-on-by-us-even-though-Australia's-not-much-better cousin island nation across the pond. A source of regular ribbing from those of us on the great big dustbowl continent nearby, and oft overlooked in terms of their stellar music scene.

Time has proved the nation not to be underestimated in terms of extreme metal prowess, however, with NZ producing many brutal luminaries ranging from Ulcerate to Diocletian, Odiusembowel, Blindfolded And Led To The Woods and Meth Drinker among many others.

Lesser known still outside their national locale, members of the Kiwi grindcore scene is something akin to a mere rumour or whisper. To my knowledge, for example, it’d be hard to roll a grind band from our ANZAC brethren off-hand - and I’m something of a genre aficionado.

Factoring in all that, Auckland noise-makers RVVKVS appear to be one of quite a few up-and-comers stirring a blastbeat-laden volcanic eruption within the scene.

Plus, if the savage, brief but highly skilful effort in Antithesis of Prosperity is any indicator, I’m here for it. And if you're any measure of a grindcore fan, when this badboy unleashes on the masses from tomorrow (Nov 22nd) you'd also do well to pay heed. Especially when the project is somewhat of an extreme metal supergroup, a collective formed by members of multiple current and past death/black/grind outfits of the Auckland/greater NZ scene.

Wasting about as much time as one leaving their scooter outside the dairy, opener ‘Shachiku’ begins with an ominous warbling sample before immediately blasting into a caustic and angular cavalcade of guttural, jagged riffage. Ben Hickling (of Odiusembowel and Carnal fame) unleashes a sub-octave barrage of grimy yet fierce vocals atop the tight, discordant riffage of axeman Amrtharaj Sing⁠⁠arajah. Levitating them both on relentless rhythm scaffolding are the duo Ross Larsen (ex-Forced To Submit) on bass and, of course, the pummelling charge of Allan McLachlan (ex-Bloodfvkk) behind the kit. 

Gnashing wildly before dropping into a satisfying groove that wouldn’t be out of place on a Rotten Sound LP, the track abruptly pulls up stumps as quickly as it arrived, a concussion-inducing belter with little room for pretentious folly. This is grindcore, after all, and there’s no room on the table for extensive ponderances and effects-laden voyages into prog-land.

No time for pondering of any kind, it seems. Not when ‘Glass Face’ does what it says on the tin, teasing a more traditional chug-and-solo-laden opening one might expect more from a thrash metal act. The mostly instrumental, spoken-word piece reorients your attention, betraying a sense of calm (or noting exactly what’s to be expected) prior to follow-up track ‘Pathological Altruism’. Clocking in at a mere 55 seconds, there’s barely enough time to deliver a rollicking Insect Warfare-styled punky bash to the head, a raspy scream announcing a very abrupt departure. 

‘Recidivist Reprobate’ is equally playful, beginning with a complex, spindling chain of riffs as though having invited Discordance Axis in for Speight's or two.

The decidedly death metal aesthetic of the vocals rattles off into a call-and-response vocal attack, wrapping things up in another blinder almost too brief to register on the radar. 

Given the brevity of the past few tracks, you’d be forgiven for being lulled into a false sense of security thus far.

‘Kleptomaniac’ is where the band decide to do away with warm-up sets, going straight for the one-rep max in a chaotic wall of churning blasts, rasps, growls and riff-trickery. Easing things off momentarily, ‘Lost Lessons in Filth’ launches with a mosh-friendly bouncy introduction, setting a fun d-beat pace which is intermittently punctuated by pulses of maddening speed which ramps up right to the end. 

This album won’t be playing ‘Forever’, yet the eerie and electronica-soaked tones of this instrumental track feel more akin to the industrial feel of early Fear Factory.

That’s clearly a gotcha moment, and before too long the second half of the track peels off into a rollicking barrage of consistent yet technical riffing with some fun fills between blastbeats to send another brief mortar-strike into your earholes. 

‘Trapped in Vain Decline’ captures the misanthropic social commentary of prior tracks, arching past the screenshot-click length of previous tracks to wallow in slightly reduced tempo, a doomier section serving to punctuate the brutality of a barely-controlled miasma towards the latter minute of the track.

Closing track ‘The Fear’ employs a similar sense of death-grind sensibility, extending to a few minutes’ length so as to provide a complex and battering send-off. Churning through an impressive array of twisting and winding riff-corridors, time-signature changes pivoting like a politician, there’s little sense of reprieve to be felt as the intensity only escalates right up to the very end. 

In about the time John Petrucci would be finished squaring off against Jordan Rudess in some scale-run circle-jerk for a single song, RVVKVS manage to cram and layer a multitude of neat little stylistic changes across the entire album. It’s short and sharp, but don’t let the length fool you. There’s plenty of technical and subtle interplay between various members on each track which warrants repeated playing. 

A familiar yet also cleverly unpredictable grindcore platter, Antithesis of Prosperity is testament to the ongoing need to never underestimate the skilful capacity of New Zealand’s burgeoning extreme metal scene.

 
 
Brady Irwin
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