Three years ago I reviewed the second album Bushmeat from Dipygus.  The band waited until after COVID to release their third album, Dipygus, a self-titled affair.  This Californian sludgy death metal act has returned with their longest album, complete with their longest song, “Sacral Brain”, at over 11 minutes and the heaviness is just as prevalent here, as on their prior releases.

10 songs, in 40 minutes, and since I mentioned it, let’s get right to that “Sacral Brain” tune.  Slow buildup as the song gets louder and louder, with the eerie Autopsy infused guitar melodies take center stage, the slow monstrous heavy moment come right in front of you, and this moment reminds me of Autopsy’s Retribution for the Dead ep….so damn heavy and the little guitar solo adds quite a lot to this opening.

The song gets out of the slow dirgy trenches with a gradual pick-up in tempo.  The double bass sounds killer and then right back into that doom/death, crushing and I mean crushing old school Autopsy type of heaviness.  Truly a song drenched in absolute filth.  There are some cool sound effects on this, early on, then back into the rumbling heaviness.  The song picks up the pace, with a killer gallop at the 8 minute mark-very late 90’s death metal, then back into that slow doomy heaviness.  This song may be one of the best songs the band has ever constructed.  In a live setting, I would recommend against playing an 11+ minute number – you will lose some fans during that live experience, but maybe chopping up the song and playing part of it live could work; regardless, as a recorded song this is excellent.

“AquaGenesis” is a really damn good song, beginning with some nice double bass drums and Autopsy guitar melodies the song is faster in nature, going for that late 80’s death metal galloping speed, and I must STOP….and mention the production.  It’s organic and sounds natural.  Unsure if this is recorded in analog, since some bands refuse to still record in digital, like Blood Incantation, but I must say, the sound is warm..and makes for a very heavy listening experience.  Ok, I’ve just given myself an abdominal stretch, in order to shut my pie-hole…the song traverses into rumbling heaviness, with the excellent old-school-styled death metal vocals and excellent throaty growls too.  The song has some guitar soloing and truly a well-crafted song with enough tempo shifts for you to move around, in that mini-mart that’s right down the street from where you live.

“Огромный Кальмар (Ross Sea Trawler)”, right from the starting gates goes into a blast beat.  It’s very cool to hear, as the song goes from a variety of tempo shifts from dirgy doom/death, to blast beats to rumbling heavy moments, not unlike Bolt Thrower.  Excellent song.

There are 2 instrumentals, that do have music and sounds, and honestly, while you all know I am not a big fan of death metal instrumentals, these are really brief, and the musical landscape sounds add and do not detract from the overall album-  they actually enhance the album.

Dipygus’ self-titled album is excellent.  Yet another great album from the band, which sees the band embracing longer songs and adding a variety of weird otherworldly sounds, which makes for an immersive listening experience.  With a natural production and well-crafted songs Dipygus has returned to crush your chest cavity.

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