» Blog Archive Visions of Disfigurement: Brutal Slamming Goodness -
Evan Conway Hard Music, News

I’m picky when it comes to brutal death metal. I enjoy the traditional stuff, but usually more lo-fi and less high quality. There are exceptions, but the usual clear production that accompanies brutal death metal is usually hit or miss for me in the end. I dig Disentombed and Abominable Putridity, but beyond them my interests in the style are sparse. The UK’s Visions of Disfigurement, though? These guys probably sold their souls to the Devil because good GOD is this one of the nastiest, most unrelenting albums of the year.

The Manchester-based band released the EP Exordium last year, but it’s this year that Aeons of Misery is their unholy gift to the metal community. It’s a stellar example of how to riff hard in a coherent manner while still making your blasphemous incantations digestible and accessible. Granted, we’re talking about gutturals, blast beats, and dissonant intervals all over the place with some slam grooves for good measure, so accessible is targeted for a more niche audience, but that doesn’t stop this album from impressing over its brief 34 minute length.

That length is perfect, too, because Visions of Disfigurement don’t overstay their welcome here. It’s fat riff after fat riff, infectious guitar grooves over driving and pummeling drums, and a perfectly balanced production to highlight every asset this band is utilizing. This band sounds MASSIVE, and one for only one guitarist in the band I must applaud them for allowing their bass player to cut through the mix and fill that void. The low hiss of the overdriven bass tone just cuts through the larger than life guitar tones, and really it just all comes together nicely in the most cacophonous way possible.

But maybe what I like most about this album is the band’s fluctuating dynamics and attempt to write something outside of the norm. Visions of Disfigurement aren’t experimental, but the clean tones and dynamic shifts on “Pandemonium” conflict with the balls-to-the-wall nature of “Unimpaired Depravity,” and in truth it helps the songs create a sense of identity that I feel most brutal death bands don’t care to do. Perhaps the most interesting and out-there track is the closer, “Plagues,” that feels like a fitting end to a maniacal journey, and with a rollercoaster of dynamics and a clean intro and outro, it really makes you think this band is onto something with what they’re doing.

This is one of the better releases of the year for sure, and it’s a well-crafted beauty of an album that I fell in love with right away. Malicious, devious, and uncompromising, Visions of Disfigurement have a really great sophomore effort with Aeons of Misery, and in doing so have raised the bar for death metal as a whole for the remainder of the year.

Aeons of Misery is available now. Watch the video for “Unimpaired Depravity” below.

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