Genres: dissonant death metal, sludge metal, grindcore (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Replicant, Blood Incantation
Country: Australia
Release date: 19 January 2024
Birthed into existence in the late 90s with Gorguts’s Obscura, dissonant death metal is a genre that has seen considerable growth since its inception. From the seemingly barely contained chaos of genre forefathers Portal and Gorguts to the crushing, blackened atmosphere of bands like Ulcerate and Convulsing to the jazzy tendencies of Imperial Triumphant and Veilburner, chances are that if a genre exists, dissodeath has found a way incorporate it into its ever growing mass. And with Resin Tomb’s debut Cerebral Purgatory, dissodeath has officially taken sludge metal into its fold.
While not as disparate as other potential combinations, the concoction of dissonance and sludge that Resin Tomb delivers on this album is bubbling over with the trademark tendencies of both genres. Extensive use of the high pitched and, yes, dissonant chord work that runs rampant in the modern dissodeath scene is on full display here, although its use doesn’t necessarily seem to capture the ethos of dissodeath as much as it does the mere texture. Instead of the angular passages expected from dissodeath, the riffs sound as though they’ve been dragged through mud, small details obfuscated by thick layers of muck and sludge. Several times I found myself reminded of the riffing style of Morbid Angel—or Gojira for a more modern reference—but with a tone more akin to that of LLNN or Primitive Man. This formula ensures that every moment on this album is pulverizingly heavy but also difficult to distinguish from its peers, each riff a wall of distortion only a vaguely different shade of blood-spattered gray.
This issue of sameness is not alleviated by the album’s drumwork, which spends a significant amount of its time blasting away, pushing the needle of this album closer to the realms of grindcore than anything sludge related, leaving the album in a sort of limbo. The riffing style and tone especially seemingly demand a slower pace, but the rhythm section is insistent upon a speed that makes the riffs basically unmemorable. And herein lies my main issue with Cerebral Purgatory: it fails to truly capture the essence of any of the genres it employs. The dissodeath elements are textural at best; the sludge has been diluted to a runny mess with the presence of grindcore; and the grindcore leaves songs feeling half baked. When Resin Tomb finds it in their consciousness to slow down a touch, it often leads to the album’s most memorable moments, like on “Scalded” and “Concrete Crypt,” but these moments are rare since most songs on the album seem to be following a similar strophic recipe that’s unfortunately missing a few ingredients.
Now, I’m as much of a proponent for sleek songwriting as anybody, but Resin Tomb in this pursuit have pushed a few of these songs towards anemia. Songs like “Human Confetti” and “Cerebral Purgatory” play out as though they are missing vital sections, ending before they’ve really said anything. This is once again another tendency of grindcore that seems at odds with the sludge metal textures, as though the beast that is dissodeath swallowed up grindcore and sludge metal and is now suffering from some indigestion.
Thankfully, Cerebral Purgatory is not all bad. The varied vocal approach keeps me engaged during my listens, and the bass tone is actually to die for with its satisfying clack yet fully audible pitch. These two factors are consistent enough to raise this album from something inadequate to something merely forgettable, as though your brain is wiped with some “Purge Fluid” after each listen. I wish that Resin Tomb had maintained the track record of dissodeath’s calculated genre pushing, but it seems as though the successful amalgamation of sludge metal and dissonant death metal will have to come another day.
Recommended tracks: Purge Fluid, Concrete Crypt
You may also like: Devenial Verdict, Dysgnostic, Gridlink
Final verdict: 5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Transcending Obscurity – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Resin Tomb is:
– Mitch Long (bass)
– Perry Vedelago (drums)
– Brendan Auld (guitars)
– Matt Gordon (guitars)
– Matthew Budge (vocals)
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