Review: Unsouling – Vampiric Spiritual Drain

Genres: dissonant death metal (mostly harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Ulcerate, Blut Aus Nord, Blood Incantation, Tomb Mold, The Ruins of Beverast
Country: Minnesota, United States
Release date: 26 January 2024

I find talking about the album cover as the intro paragraph to be a bit of a cop out, an easy choice when a vast array of other creative options are possible; the cover art for Vampiric Spiritual Drain, the debut album by Feral Light’s front man A.S.’s new band Unsouling, does not allow me the luxury of ignoring it. Thirteen glowing, comatose wolves are being sucked into a giant void in the sky with a subtly colorful red and blue color palette. It’s evocative, shocking, unique, strangely beautiful, intriguing—all things dissonant death metal should strive to be. Unsouling try their hand at achieving all of the above, and Luciana Nedelea sets the stage for them to succeed with her cover painting, worth the price of admission alone. 

Unsouling, too, oozes a fraught spirituality with squelching, dissonant guitars coalescing in melodic sections redolent of Lunar Chamber or, even more interestingly, into goth-infused darkwave sections palpitating with a perverted edge between pain and acceptance. The main body of Vampiric Spiritual Drain is its Voidhanger-core dissonant death metal, recalling the amorphous riffing of Qrixkuor or Acausal Intrusion. These death metal sections seem rather pedestrian at first, seeming like aimless filler between the more interesting genre infusions, but they unveil themselves to reveal a kinetic beast within. Several riffs have the same distinct cadence as the mighty Kostnatěni, and the drumming by A.S. is vicious, opting for more delicate fills and intricate patterns than endless blast beats. They’re pummeling but not suffocating, allowing for the atmospheric synths and swirling guitars to grip your throat instead.

In addition to the metal instrumentation, Unsouling is deft with its usage of eerie synths and organ, allowing them to forge the visceral spiritual pain he aims for. Beyond the two synth-driven interludes—“Taileater” and “Endless Plateau,” the latter of which transitions into intense, ritualistic black metal like modern The Ruins of Beverast—most tracks begin as a standard dissonant death metal song with phlegmy vocals, and then unilaterally they morph from the squirrely sections into clean chants and goth drum beats before coalescing back into metal. The isolated metal sections are by far the least engaging if only because the novelty of creepy, dissonant darkwave is performed so stunningly. Only a couple times does the metal go too long without these transitions—the track “Weightless Immovable Anchor” in particular—and the harsh vocals, especially, would benefit from more stylistic diversity, but each time Unsouling transitions back to more unique things, staving off the occasional death metal monotony. 

Most importantly for an album attempting this style, Vampiric Spiritual Drain sounds amazing with full-bodied production. While I referred to amorphous riffing earlier, Unsouling don’t lose the guitars, bass, and drums in a singular haze like on the most recent Abyssal; no, bass, mids, and treble all come through for a punchy sound in spite of the intentionally blended lower range. Moreover, those synth parts and clean parts come through particularly cleanly, as well. Perhaps no track shows off Unsouling’s production as well as finale and highlight, “The Wolf and Ascension.” The track is spiritual and epic, sprawling with its Tomb Mold-esque guitars and coolly uncomfortable crawling pace, and while the extended synth outro may be excessive, the whole track flies by—really the whole album does. At thirty-five minutes, Vampiric Spiritual Drain is easily relistenable, and as the minutiae aren’t so apparent at first, it easily lends itself to replayability. 

Vampiric Spiritual Drain is stunningly organic sounding for dissodeath, from the production to the spiritual, immense guitar leads, but when Unsouling extends itself outwards with gothic tendrils, the album truly finds its identity. This band has potential to really make a mark on the scene—I really wouldn’t be afraid to call this an attempt at The Thule Grimoires (The Ruins of Beverast) turned dissonant death metal—but not all of the pieces quite click together yet with the inconsistencies between the darkwave and death metal. The songwriting can come across as unfocused, and although the meandering structure isn’t totally problematic, more focused precision, especially regarding transitions between riffs, will yield a more powerful final product. Unsouling could be an AOTY list contender in the future with smoother and more used inclusions of its unique aspects it adds to the game.

Recommended tracks: The Ladder of Broken Backs, Endless Plateau, The Wolf and Ascension
You may also like: Feral Light, Lunar Chamber, Acausal Intrusion, Qrixkuor, Kostnatěni, Devenial Verdict, Haar
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: I, Voidhanger Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Unsouling is:
– A.S. (everything)