I have reviewed my fair share of brutal death metal this year and overall the brutality of some of the releases such as: PeelingFlesh, Cephalotripsy, Werewolves, and Brodequin are top scores.  Also the old/new Extermination Dismemberment is creating havoc out there in the slam genre.

Nothing really prepared me for a band I had never heard of in my life, namely Theurgy.  This international band features members from Italy / Thailand / United States / Canada.  They had a two-song demo in 2021, but Emanations of Unconscious Luminescence is their debut album.  New Standard Elite is the perfect place for this band to be housed.  This is Ultra Brutal Technical Death Metal.  Take one part Rings of Saturn, one part Gorgasm, one part Wormed a sprinkling of Visceral Throne and Brain Drill toss that into a blender and a nice filthy stinkin’ band called Theurgy erupts in all its frothiness.

8 songs in 29 minutes and one of the songs is “Molesting the Decapitated” (Devourment cover).  “Miracles of Absolute Hedonism” opens the album and is the longest song, just shy of five minutes.  The vocals of Polwach Beokhaimook literally sound like he’s dropping a deuce out of his mouth.  Take clogged sewer pipe styled vocals and flush them down the toilet, after you have plunged them, and then you get an idea of his vocals.  The music portion opens with Brandon Iacovella signature guitar sounds with pinch harmonics and such and the opening sounds like something from Rings of Saturn.  Brutally technical and spacey.  Brandon played guitars on the  stunning Lunar Chamber debut Shambhallic Vibrations ep last year, in case your were wondering.  This song blasts like a mofo – I am unsure who is the drummer or if they used a drum machine.  Marco Finco is also on guitars and Nikhil Talwalkar is the bassist and also contributes on vox.  Some mid-paced rumblings on this song with bottom-heavy grooves will no doubt cause the brown note in you.

“Thaumaturgic Studies of the Glittering Resplendency Beyond” blasts out of the starting gates at relentless speeds with the burpee toilet vocals sounding utterly filthy, especially during the slam at the 54-second part.  The song gets into more blasting and the bass plucks over the blasting, sounds excellent.  More chaotic Rings of Saturn type of guitar riffing with all the squeaks, and harmonics that awesome band creates.  The bottom-heavy moments at the 2.50 section is so gosh darn heavy. I was cranking this up with my subwoofer on and Dear Lord, crap was flying out of me, just like grass from a goose!

The title track has blasting madness all over with killer guitar work and with all the brutality these songs are still catchy.  Even during the video game-styled tech death metal moments, which this song has a plethora of.  Another great song and ending the album with another tongue-twister – “Harmonization of Sentiments Through the Lush, Spiritual Insights of the Flourishing Inner Shrine” is a highlight.  Numerous guitar solos on this as well as bass-plucking madness.  Brutal to the max – great song.

This is a short album which speeds by quickly.  Outside of the Devourment cover and “The Solar Way” (Interlude), there are only 6 original full song compositions.  I’m a bit generous today because I have just scarfed down a mega-protein bar, so I am highlighting the quality over quantity on Emanations of Unconscious Luminescence.  Theurgy is a great up-and-coming band and as technical and overly brutal this album is, it is catchy!!  I can remember these songs and I’ve been playing this non-stop.  I love listening to face-ripping brutality at the gym and Theurgy is my gym fix right now.  Ruthless and terrific uncompromising technical madness, alongside a striking album cover.  Not for the faint of heart.

[Visit the band's website]

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