ALBUM REVIEW: Harrowing – Mithridatum
Every now and then you come across an album that gives up the ghost right away in its name or its cover. MITHRIDATUM‘s new release Harrowing is one such perfect example. That is the single best word to describe their brand of dissonant and blackened death metal. It’s an art that the trio have skilfully honed across many years, comprising members of ABHORRENT and THE FACELESS, and now they’ve teamed up across five spiked slabs of malice here on their debut album.
Coming out of the gates like a shotgun blast, the drums of Lyle Cooper and guitar of Marlon Friday lay down a bruising and off-kilter foundation for vocalist Geoff Ficco to spew his bile on Sojourn. As the trio settle into a lurching, looming wall of noise, cymbals ricochet off of thundering bass lines and driving guitars interplay under fearsome roars. It’s a wholly discomforting and intimidating performance that backs you into a corner and holds your eyes open to make sure you are seeing all the horrors of the world.
Mournful Glow marks the midway point as another menacing beast that juggles slow, monolithic dominance with frenzied, razor-sharp attacks. But it’s Ficco‘s commanding vocal performance that really shines. As he growls, gurgles and croaks his venomous verse, he feels like some terrible conductor as the instrumentation shape-shifts around his inhuman noises. Bending to his every utterance, it becomes clear just how diverse MITHRIDATUM can be. Yes, their MO is centred on dissonance, but they weave it into an enviable catalogue of tempos, volumes and structures, giving these 35 minutes enough content to feel like years of accrued work. As the final line of “I open my eyes to nothing” is groaned out into the aether and everything ceases, the silence is deafening and the moment is deliciously, apocalyptically wicked.
The thing that is troubling with this release though is how it will live physically. MITHRIDATUM exists as a trio, but Cooper puts in extra shifts. Because he’s not just a drummer here on Harrowing, but also a bassist and second guitarist. Of course there are ways to cover this – other than sewing four more arms onto the man – but there’s something so primitive and tight about them existing as a three-piece. There’s an intimacy in the downtrodden fury that feels like it would be lost if they were to add to their numbers. But whatever it takes, these songs need to be heard live.
Album closer The Passageway is one final spasmodic explosion of blackened death metal that lives like tendrils, forcing its way into every nook and cranny of your existence. There’s a raw energy that bookmarks this as something that feels crucial to experience in a live setting at least once. Never letting up the attack for even a second, the song abruptly ends and so too does the album. It’s a sudden, jarring close to an aural assault that feels just as violent as everything that came before it.
Haunting. Harsh. Harrowing. This is an absolute triumph and one that should stay with you throughout the year. With any luck, MITHRIDATUM will stick with us for a long time to come.
Rating: 8/10
Harrowing is out February 3rd via Willowtip Records.
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