ALBUM REVIEW: Sulfuric Disintegration – Of Feather And Bone
Two albums into their career and following the breakout success of Bestial Hymns Of Perversion, Colorado death metallers OF FEATHER AND BONE are poised to unleash their latest slab of death metal upon the world in the form of third album Sulfuric Disintegration. From the outset, it’s clear that this album takes the animosity and vitriol of its predecessor and dials everything up, careening wildly from moment to moment.
To be perfectly clear, if you like your death metal meticulously crafted and polished, this isn’t the record for you. OF FEATHER AND BONE designed Sulfuric Disintegration to horrify and delight in its perverse heaviness. Songs are unholy amalgamations of twisted, gnarled riffs and animalistic growls, tremolo riffing and blastbeats with some mid-paced thrashing thrown in for good measure.
Opener Regurgitated Communion distils the essence of the album into a blistering five minute package. Coupled with Entropic Self Immolation it’s a torturous opening salvo with moments strongly reminiscent of DEVOURMENT. Rather than continuing in this vein, the band opt to shift gears for Noctemnania, with a doom-infected cut to take their sound in a newer direction. After a rapid fire opening, it slows to crawl with unholy bellows and sluggish, but no less devastating drumming and guitar work, flitting between these two extremes throughout.
Rather than shoehorning in as many riffs as possible, Sulfuric Disintegration prefers to bludgeon over and over with one riff before changing it up such as on Baptized In Boiling Phlegm. Despite the raw aggression on display, the preference is to repeat structures and motifs that makes the album more accessible than it appears on first listen. OF FEATHER AND BONE‘s modus operandi is violent old school death metal mixed with grind/hardcore and a serious attitude problem, eschewing precision for blunt force trauma with no room to recover.
With the exception of Sulfuric Sodomy (Disintegration of Christ) the six songs stick this same formula of violent tremolo riffing, blasting and guttural howls with little variety. Had the album been longer this would’ve been a major sticking point. But at a tight six tracks and just thirty minutes, there’s no room for it to grow stale, allowing for the maximum amount of aural carnage. That said, the relative lack of variety can make songs seem to bleed into each other somewhat.
Overall Sulfuric Disintegration is a deranged, violent and downright terrifying album, aided by a production that feels claustrophobic without sacrificing intensity or quality. Songs are immediately compelling, sacrificing absolutely no quality in their quest to grab listeners by the jugular straight out of the gate. OF FEATHER AND BONE‘s blunt force old school death metal meets grindcore pays off in spades, culminating in a grisly platter of frenetic violence that any death metal aficionado should pay attention to.
Rating: 8/10
Sulfuric Disintegration is out now via Profound Lore.
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