Suffocating, dark auras pulse along beneath a thick layer of toxic, extraterrestrial atmosphere. The inhuman voice of a timeless cosmic evil mingles amongst the haze with the stench of a thousand rotting worlds on its breath. Thermogravimetry Warp Continuum, the debut full-length from Indian/Russian collaboration Jyotiṣavedāṅga relies heavily on these two features for the base of their sound. A deeper dive into the three piece’s cosmic cocktail of black and death metal reveals that this is not a just band relying strictly on the unsettling charm of a claustrophobic atmosphere to instill its truculent terror in the listener; there is plenty of meat beneath the cold layers of space that surround it.
Label: Larval Productions
As the second half continues, Jyotiṣavedāṅga become more than just an exceptionally good black/death band, and while some elements beforehand may have touched on the progressive, the band embraces a more technical, mind-bending approach, breaking structures and encompassing more leads. However, there is no sacrifice made to the pummeling fury of the sonic offensive against the listener. The band makes a greater use of their aural palette on the back half as well. The pinch harmonics on the breakdown section of “Vector Photon Gammaburst” fly through the chaos like cosmic debris sparking from the planetoid destruction occurring around all around it. The gaping maw of an astronomical black hole makes itself known at the beginning of the album closer, the plodding despair of the doom tempo spelling a horrid fate materializing amongst the cosmos. The guitar bursts forth with another surprise: a fury of higher octave shredding; the tapping of the strings grasping like the final flickers of illumination before all is consumed by light-obiliterating darkness.
Though technically a full-length piece, the album is very short. Clocking in at 28 minutes (including the three-and-a-half-minute intro and other, more brief ambient interludes) makes for a perfect duration to fully immerse into Thermogravimetry Warp Continuum without suffering from a total fatigue of the ears and the mind. Jyotiṣavedāṅga are able to make every moment of their limited time count, packing the album to the brim with hammering riffs, a brilliant display of playing ability, and well-planned dichotomy between the instruments. While it’s a fairly niche audience that this sort of release applies to, Jyotiṣavedāṅga have made an album that fans of auditory sadism will want to experience again and again, each time uncovering new curiosities within its realms of cosmos-eradicating metal.
