Album Review: Disembodiment - Spiral Crypts
Reviewed by Sam Jones
One of numerous records due out July 11th, Disembodiment’s Spiral Crypts stands as the band’s debut full length work and one I was keen to experience myself, having enjoyed their 2021 Mutated Chaos EP. Formed in 2020 out of Quebec, Canada, Disembodiment are merely one of multiple bands that are helping cement Quebecois extreme metal as a fervent force amidst global metal. Though their EP was received with plenty of acclaim the band had gone quiet for some years until, earlier this year, they began teasing Singles for this upcoming record. As aforementioned, Spiral Crypts is out July 11th and through Everlasting Spew Records no less. This is a record label I often lean towards, possessing a roster of strong bands whose releases are worthwhile. This is Quebecois death metal act Disembodiment and their first full length album.
Introductory sequences can be hit or miss. Sometimes you want to get right into the action but Disembodiment give you enough time spent around horror, the flies, that when their songwriting kicks in it feels simply a continuation of that aesthetic which they’ve initially instilled. Additionally the vocals don’t jump in from the word go either, their opening piece is this slow burn as the band phase themselves in gradually; they introduce their aesthetic, then. Their style of riff and tempo before suddenly thrusting the vocals upon you. It’s a stark indication of what their performance will entail. They’re effectively informing us that whilst there will be speed and slaughter within, their priorities also lie with the putrid factor, immersing us, seeing to it we are entirely at home amongst their harrowing space. Their tempo never establishes itself as a one-trick pony; the songwriting is forever climbing and descending these waves that grow and crash atop us and whichever pace the riffs are played at naturally determines the kind of aesthetic you’re experiencing. No single track is dominant one way or the other though as the songwriting sees their soundscape resemble this fluidic, oscillating crucible that churns and moves, meandering wherever the vibe takes you. One moment its trudging and moody, the next you’re swept clean off your feet.
I like how the guitar tone applied isn’t some generically crushing sound we’ve become accustomed to discovering these days. Listening to Disembodiment’s riffs is like experiencing disease in action, where you can almost see its viral strands reaching out, rotting, breaking down cellular membranes. Though little has been done to give Disembodiment’s guitar attack any particularly special presence, the fact that you can hear their riffs pierce the whole milieu of their collective onslaught is telling. Moreover the guitar work feels rough, as if the strumming is doing a real number on the guitar’s body but even then, the riffs come across with undeniable clarity. There’s no difficulty telling what the riffs sound like or how they might sound given the additional elements of bass, drums and vocals also implementing their quality. The band’s riffs are coarse, like chiselling against tree bark, yet the record itself has been mixed with a certain finesse to ensure the overall listening experience is favourable and does not risk become jarring to us paying attention. The band ultimately show us the choice of guitar tone is a deliberate stylised choice and has been mixed into the album in such a way that Disembodiment end up reinforcing why that tone was such a favourable option.
Throughout the record Disembodiment perform music that cites them as clear death metal. But its during their purposefully slower segments that their capacity for doom is laid bare. Now this isn’t often given their songwriting is crafted around the interchange of tempos and alternating aesthetics, but its there and its audibly apparent it was something the band wanted to ensure was recognisable. Curiously when these slower segments are brought into play the guitar tone and its hammer-like impact never wane, resulting in headbanging that is exceedingly natural to pull off. I wouldn’t outright determine Disembodiment to be a death/doom band but the influences and techniques are there, and when it’s the case you’ll feel them for decent swathes of time, clearly embodying distinct portions of a track. Its one thing when its demonstrated for a few seconds, it’s quite another when these doom-laden sequences feel integral to the songwriting. Interestingly as well the drums don’t come to a crawl during these moments either; the whole tempo of the record comes to a grinding decline yet the rest of the instrumentation is still carrying you along thereby keeping the pacing in check so that when things do intensify once more the change in ferocity doesn’t feel as rapid. Its worth mentioning also the drums hardly deliver conventional patterns either, always flitting between different strikes or aspects of the kit whether it be the hi-top to a blast beat or a tom-tom deluge. There’s no way to underpin what the drums will do in the moment.
The vocals here are what you’d expect: guttural, reaching for the depths and yet they manage to elicit something more ravenous, primal, than other death metal vocals may embody. Now and again you’ll catch the vocals break free of their crushing and bellowing streak to suddenly feel them rising higher, though not in pitch, and suddenly they’re looking to the skies in agony and frustration as if this life was not what was promised. Its as if, after throwing guttural vocals for most of a track and establishing the mood audiences fall in love with, they have this epiphany to launch aloft, delivering their most scathing and pained outcries yet. These instances, like the slowed doomy segments, aren’t populous throughout Disembodiment’s work but they show audiences that this death metal album isn’t going to be as straight-up a release as they thought it might. Therefore we’ll always be on edge for what else the band may throw at us given they aren’t employing all their assets out of the gate.
In conclusion, Disembodiment’s Spiral Crypts is this monstrous creature that, much like the audio bites of “The Thing” closing out the record, is constantly morphing into whatever it needs to be to survive, to keep us on edge for what’s to come. It’s a rough-edged beast that carries a hardened strength; we’ve covered how the riffs come off as especially raw or at least the tone applies such a texture to their sound, but it never directly impacts us in such a way that experiencing these riffs becomes some arduous task to bear. They aid the band towards crafting a blood-crazed, frenzied mess that, given its plethora of viscous viscera and the cohesion of such a scene, makes it increasingly hard to turn away from such close-up violence. Soloing may not be Disembodiment’s prerogative and while you may not get segments where freeform guitar playing takes the spotlight, there is plenty to enjoy regarding the filthy licks and methodically practised riffs that hardly sit still. Spiral Crypts is a great time and is another notch in Quebec’s extreme metal scene, one that is only going from strength to strength.
