Every so often I crave unadulterated brutality; Just a break from the keyboards, atmospherics, and moods my other favorite genres provide. And when I’m in such a mood I simply go and look for what Comatose Music has sent into the promos, as they are predictable and reliable when it comes to such music.

Comatose has once again dipped into the fertile Asian scene  (Depraved Murder, Devastrosity, Intricated, Perveration, Gorepot) for the second album from Indonesia’s Anthropophagus Depravity.

I am not familiar with the band or their debut Apocalypto, but being on Comatose, it does not take much of an imagination to figure out what the album sounds like; brutal, bludgeoning, relentless death metal, and with song titles that imbue some Suffocation-y titles, (“Preaching Above Depravity”, “Delusions of the Unholy”, “Malicious Catastrophe”) it kind of hits it home.

Culling from the aforementioned Suffocation, as well as expected brutal and slam US death metal staples like Cannibal Corpse, Devourment, and such, there really isn’t much more to expand on here, especially if you’ve heard anything on Comatose recently, but by god, Anthropophagus Depravity does it well.

Getting right the fuck to it with “The Obscure Realm”, and ending with the utterly savage “Delusions of the Unholy”,  the album is 31 minutes and 10 songs of relentless, pummeling, brutal death metal. It’s full of pinch harmonics, some crushing but not too slammy slams (this isn’t Kraanium-type slam, the slow downs have more of a ‘Suffocation on steroids’ vibe) as heard on “Dogma Weakened Souls”, “Malicious Catastrophe” or “Preaching Above Depravity”, and stoopid powerful vocals.

The only respite is interlude “When the Darkthrone Reigns”. All of it is rendered with a massive, deafening production. Oh and no annoying snare sound as is commonplace in the genre. I just wish they would slow down a little more often, as it’s downright destructive as heard to start the title track or instrumental number “…Of Condemnation”.

If you are a fan of Comatose’s catalog, Demonic Paradise should be a no-questions-asked purchase as in my opinion, it’s one of the label’s strongest releases since Abhorrent Deformity‘s Slaughter Monolith from 2018 or even Antropofagus’s M.O.R.T.E in 2017.

[Visit the band's website]

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