Swallowed are the Helsinki, Finland duo of Ville Kojonen (drums/vocals) and Samu Salovaara (guitars/vocals), with their new release for Dark Descent titled Lunaterial. Pretty cool, demonic, and mysterious cover art adorning this one, which gives you somewhat of an idea for the maniacal, violent sounds that are contained on the CD. Calling Swallowed a death/black/doom metal hybrid sort of explains their style but doesn't really do them justice; make no mistake about it, this band is loud, noisy, extreme, and corrosive. There's nothing remotely melodic happening here, with the tortured, hellish vocals reminding of Attila of Norwegian black metal veterans Mayhem, but the music is a monstrous glob of sludge infested death metal. "Arterial Mists of Doom" pummels the senses with massive slabs of distorto-riffs and some of the vilest vocals you'll hear this side of Hell itself. "Black Aura" is almost too torturous to listen to, the riffs agonizingly slow & heavy, the drums smashing your eardrums, and those maniacal vocals...it's the stuff of nightmares. And, if most of the album isn't noisy enough for you, there's the 25-minute trip into the bowels of Hell that is "Libations", as never ending feedback, distortion, screams, and moans just shatter your senses for an extended journey that might surely change your love forever...and not necessarily in a good way.
I haven't really decided whether Lunaterial is actually something I've enjoyed listening to. Extreme metal, for me anyway, generally has an immediate impact one way or the other, but Lunaterial is still perplexing me (and disturbing me quite frankly) more than a few listens into it. This is by no means music for the weak of heart, and to many the caustic & corrosive sounds here will be nothing more than noise, but there's a power here that can't be denied, an utter heaviness and sense of violence & armageddon that has to be given credit for. Again, whether it's something you can enjoy or not will be the question.
Track Listing
1) Opening of the Key
2) Reverence Through...
3) Arterial Mists of Doom
4) Black Aura
5) Black Phlegm
6) Libations
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