Lithotome "Lithotome" CD

Black / Death to drag you thru the depths...featuring members of KRIEG, CHAOS MOON, ESOTERICA & THE MANY.

Lithotome's debut self titled full length of disturbing death metal has finally been birthed. Formed in 2010 as the brainchild of Esoterica (ex Chaos Moon/Esoterica/Krieg) as a lurching mass different from his other creations but just as touched. Imperial (Krieg/Twilight) became involved in 2011 and added his wretched vocal stylings to Esoterica's twisting and changing form of writing while The Many (Plastik Musik/Bitter Peace) added a pulse and shell, resulting in this, their first full length. Lithotome can be described as a blend of the madness of Portal and ancient Finnish death metal sub 1994. Dense and unnerving death metal with little concern for traditional aesthetics, this is a record which will crawl into your subconscious and silently reap for time to come.

While it's not unusual that bands that have been listed in MA for some time - in US band Lithotome's case, over a year as of this time of review - can still puddle unnoticed with no reviews of their work, I still manage to be surprised that a recording of fairly consistent quality made by a group (that includes ex-Krieg man N Imperial) is still lurking under most people's radar and that mine is the first review here. From start to finish, this self-titled debut is an often compelling work drawing its listeners into an otherworldly sick, demented and evil universe.
The music here is very dense, muddy, filthy even and oozing with deliberate cold-blooded and slimy intent. If opening track "Indoctrination", a sub-bass ambient track of sub-human groan and grumble, doesn't scare the shit (and more) out of you, you're blessed indeed: the music starts off energetic and blast-beat fast with a guitar machine-gun attack force and heavy grinding bass influenced by elements from both black and death metal genres. Melodies and riffs that are often off-key change frequently in most songs and the musical journey can be very frenzied. Drumming is fast, efficient and precise though not especially outstanding for power until later tracks. Above the music though, the most noticeable feature is the vocals: dripping with venomous bacteria-laden saliva and driven by deranged motivations, the nature of which would kill us if we knew what they were, the gravelly crocodile voices plot the destruction of humankind and all evidence that our
species ever existed in the universe and beyond.
Don't go looking for definite songs as the music follows a purpose and goal far past human ken: a sinister force propels it ever onwards until its reason for existence is fulfilled and who knows how long that will be? Apart from pauses where successive tracks end and begin, the music is more or less continuous and flowing. Early tracks packed with riffs and melodies galore and brimming with aggression whiz by but the pace does slow down halfway through and some of the early energy and sharpness are lost along the way. The music does not become any heavier to compensate but at least it is more tolerable on the nerves. A looser style comes into being on "A Halo's Swarm of Locusts" with dark space opening up and affording opportunity for some deep Sheol cave ambience to develop behind the reverberating monster carnivore vocals. While this track is very welcome for its slight experimental approach in the interplay of the vocals, their echo treatment and the space, it is probably too long for what it does and a couple of minutes could have been shaved off without affecting its impact on listeners.
"Mother of Worms" is a good track, all blasting strings-n-skins cannon-fire with a deep chthonic crunching bass to ground it all and N Imperial's leering guttural gurgle the pièce de résistance that makes the song a nauseating experience, one you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. The climax isn't quite as sonically devastating as I would have preferred - I had expected something really blast-furnace searing and cacophonous that would send my brain clean round the S-bend and back - but other listeners (I suspect the majority) may be quite happy to find themselves still alive after the music falls silent.
The recording has something to please most people depending on their preferences: straight-out death metal fans will prefer the earlier half of the album and find the rest of it something of a let-down, other people will be interested in the slightly experimental fifth track. Generally this is not a bad effort though given the band's pedigree, listeners might be a bit disappointed that this debut is not better than it is. The most impressive aspects of the recording are its reptilian soundscapes and equally serpentine vocals; what's needed now is a more definite focus and a strong determination to conquer the universe with the most disgusting and deranged music alive ... or dead.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...