Megascavenger: Descent of Yuggoth

These guys definitely win the award for best song title of the year (so far) for the track "Revel with Vermin." There's just something so perfect, especially for this kind of music, about the idea of hanging around, reveling in fact, with a bunch of vermin. Old school death metal loves to play off of the all-too-human tendency to shudder at the abject.

I wanted to like this album much more than I did, especially since I tend to love anything even remotely associated with H. P. Lovecraft. In this case, the title is what tips Lovecraft fans to the connection. Yuggoth, for those who don't know, is the name of a place--a planet I think--that shows up in a couple of works, a short story and a poem cycle called "Fungi from Yuggoth." Like anything in Lovecraft, Yuggoth is a mysterious place, one that spawns evil beyond the understanding of human reason.

The album doesn't really engage with Lovecraft in a sustained way. That's too bad; Lovecraftian metal is pretty hot these days and doesn't show any signs of slowing down. In any case, every band is using his ideas differently; some use them to establish mood while others are trying to work up a near-concept album based on his stuff. With Megascavenger, Lovecraft serves as a springboard for general lyrical themes. I would have liked a few more nods in Lovecraft's direction. The music here is extremely heavy, some of the lowest and crunchiest stuff I've heard this month. It sounds good, mostly because it's riff-centered and tight. The production here is bright and crisp, giving plenty of emphasis on the guitars. Listen, for example, to tracks like "Void of Damnation" and "Funerals and Ceremonies" for the way they play up the heavy and killer guitar parts. Unfortunately, the music tends to blend together over the course of the album, especially in the vocals. I don't mind a low growl, but sometimes the style makes the songs sound the same.

Track listing:
1. Nihilisticon
2. Descent of Yuggoth
3. Smokescreen Armageddon
4. Catapulted through Aeons
5. Void of Damnation
6. Funerals and Ceremonies
7. Death Obsessed
8. No Haven for the Sane
9. Revel with Vermin

Added: February 13th 2013
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Bandcamp Page
Hits: 1600
Language: english

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