ALBUM REVIEW: The Dying Planet Weeps – Engulf
Since their formation in 2015, New Jersey’s ENGULF have been one of the best new acts to come out of the more technical end of the US death metal underground, with a fevered flurry of EPs coming in quick succession, each boasting an unflinchingly rabid and intricate take on the genre that drew from 90s death metal and slam for its core elements alongside some extremely impressive musicianship and variety – a fact made all the more impressive when you consider that these records were all the work of one man. After the release of the band’s Transcend EP in September 2019, this burst of creative activity seemingly came to an abrupt halt, and for almost four and a half years the band has been essentially dormant. The Dying Planet Weeps, ENGULF‘s first full-length album, not only brings this lengthy period of inactivity to a close, but it reasserts the band’s place at the forefront of underground technical death metal, linking together the band’s eclectic range of influences and creating what is arguably its best material to date.
Withered Suns Collapse is an incredibly atmospheric, slow-burning start to this album, acclimatising the listener before launching headlong into a fast and frenetic piece of tech-death with excellent, grating flourishes and tortured vocals that clearly draw influence from Chuck Schuldiner. The music on all fronts is exceptionally tight, but veers suddenly into some great, dissonant moments, making this foreboding and unpredictable and kicking things off in an imaginative and intense fashion. Bellows From The Aether carries forward the impressive musicianship and hints of djent from the last track, but leans prominently into its nauseating groove and jarring components. It’s a shorter, punchier offering with a varied approach to songwriting that makes it both memorable and punishing.
The Nefarious Hive, a similarly searing effort, places emphasis on polished melodicism within the confines of the dizzying, caustic sound, with the acerbic vocals carving through the mix and creating a visceral anchor around which the rabid side of this song is interwoven, proving to be a catchy though nonetheless belligerent offering full of intriguing ideas. Ominous Grandeur, with its ethereal, cleaner guitar sound, swampy basslines and subdued, jazzy drum fills, introduces a progressive touch, whilst keeping one foot firmly planted within the band’s tech-death undercurrent. The music that comes out of the blending of styles is immersive and cavernous, although that focused, claustrophobic edge is retained, making this an early stand out track.
Lunar Scourge, brings together the soaring ambience of earlier tracks with the most noxious classic death metal riffs it can muster, sounding, if anything, even more epic that its predecessor. There’s not as many technical flourishes here, and this stark change of pace actually benefits the song, creating a massive, domineering sound with a few speed-driven bursts, developing the fantastic sound of what came before it even further. Plagued Oblivion, with its disjointed opening motif and preponderance for fluid groove, sounds looser and more relaxed than the unhinged freneticism of the album’s first half, and reintroduces the progressive flavour that characterised Ominous Grandeur to make it even more distinct.
Earthbore, the final, monolithic affair of the album proper, brings back the cleaner tones and djent-inspired ambience, initially starting life as a fairly measured and sombre track but slowly gathering momentum, with only the vocals starting and remaining harsh. The hypnotic guitars that are spread in amongst the more animated moments do a lot to draw the listener in further, adding some lighter flourishes into the mix which accentuates the intensity of the jarring and vitriolic parts extremely well. It’s a brilliantly engrossing slab of progressive death metal that serves as the ultimate climax for what has been a magnificent album, with the brief instrumental closer The Dying Planet Weeps bleeding seamlessly out of the end of the previous track, feeling like the true end of that song as opposed to a track in its own right.
The Dying Planet Weeps delivers on all of the promise that the three EPs that preceded it held, exploring the impressive and varied sound of ENGULF in much greater depth. This is an album to brings together a wide range of influences, from the over-arching technical flourishes and DEATH inspired progressive leanings, to generous doses of slam, brutal death metal and atmospheric flourishes peppered throughout this record to make things even more interesting for the listener. It’s a fantastic record from start to finish, being punishingly visceral and demented at points, whilst not relying on these heavier elements to carry the music and allowing the brilliant musicianship to provide a lot of this album’s highpoints instead. This is hopefully just the first of many excellent albums, crystallising an almost fully formed sound and has very little fat to trim, if any.
Rating: 9/10
The Dying Planet Weeps is out now via Everlasting Spew Records.
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