If you haven’t checked out Virginia’s Construct of Lethe, do so now. Their 2018 effort Exiler, was one of 2018s best death metal albums, and now founder Tony Petrocelly has gone back to Construct of Lethe‘s past to deliver a vision of the band’s future…bear with me here.

Back in the early 00s , before Construct of Lethe, there was Bethledeign, and they released an EP and a demo, but that band died, became Construct of Lethe, but they had some unreleased material that didn’t fit in Lethe’s twisty, churny death metal. And now Petrocelly has reformed Bethledeign while Lethe takes a break and used that material years later to release one of 2019s most out of nowhere blistering albums.

Aiding him on this rebirth is Gus Barr (Lago) on guitars and Hideous Divinity drummer Giulio Galati, and holy shit is this good. I can see why it didn’t fit in the Construct of Lethe sound as it’s an all together different beast, being more blackened death metal akin to Angelcorpse, Belphegor, or early is Behemoth in its feral delivery, and some early Deicide-ish patterns mixed in, but even adds some surprisingly gruff melody here and there that reminds me of bands like House of Atreus or Arghoslent.

The album is a short, perfect, razor sharp 31 minutes, with 8 songs and no bullshit. Immediately, from searing opener “Domain” is clear this album will tear your throat out. From aptly named “Opens-Eviscerates” through the sheer melodic savagery of “Eight Pointed Star” which hints at some At the Gates on bath salts influence (which arises again for a real banger, “Besieged By Night”) to seething standout “The Lament Configuration” , the album is relentless but somehow engaging as well. If you liked last years Blood of the Wolf effort, this is for you.

I’m glad these 8 songs got to finally see the light of day, even though it’s a shame they are only available on LP or in a digital format on bandcamp (maybe Petrocelly can pull a Lord K/ The Project Hate fan funding CD version program?). Lets hope this isn’t the last we hear of this project or Construct of Lethe.

[Visit the band's website]

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