You guys ever listen to a band on just a whim of curiosity and they absolutely knock you over like a turtle in the middle of a highway? That was me with Light Dweller, a blackened/techy death metal solo project from Tempe, Arizona. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but as I went through Spotify and one thing led to another, I found myself looking at the cover for the project’s newest album, Hominal. The logo was perfectly symmetrical and the artwork was harrowing and obscure, but I just knew I needed to check this thing out, even if for just the opening track.

Light Dweller takes bits from Gorguts and Ulcerate and comes from the same part of the void where those bands draw influence from. The project is a Lovecraftian nightmare caught on tape, drawing from dark and dissonant passages, chaotic segments of uncertainty, and wraps it all up into a package that is both controlled and fighting to break out into mental depravity. In particular, you can feel the ripples from Ulcerate’s Vermis or Gorguts’ Colored Sands, but even then Light Dweller is intent on doing its own thing instead of harping on what has already been done. Granted, this isn’t an enigmatic sounding project a la Atheist or Deathspell Omega, but instead it’s familiar yet different, melodic but decadent to your psyche.

Hominal is for sure going to be talked about come the end of the year, and currently is fighting Ulcerate for the top spot of best death metal of the year. Light Dweller is really something awesome and special, and if anyone has any common sense they’d be doing themselves a favor checking this album out. Sit down, get your headphones out, and buckle up – it’s a fucking ride.

You can download Hominal from Light Dweller’s Bandcamp right here. Stream the album below.