Astriferous – Pulsations From The Black Orb Review

[Artwork by Jason Barnett]

I’ll tell you what, it was a lot easier being a death metal freak in the late ‘80s / early ‘90s compared to the 7,000 car pile-up that is the modern age. Back then, you took what was given to you, because what was given to you was still relatively few and far between, and it all sounded intensely exciting and more extreme than dropping into the ocean with the hopes of forcing a tattoo of the Tasmanian Devil onto a great white shark. Nowadays, though, a person can’t skip ten feet without bumping elbows with a fledgling death metal band trying to cram 30 minutes of guttural torment into our eyes, ears, noses and throats. Is it awful to grouse about excess to the Nth degree? Eh, probably. But tell that to the dusty and perilous tower of demo tapes teetering over there in the corner. Remember the debut from Entombulated Strumpet Fiend? Yeah, me neither.

So, how do you, a death metal band that’s clearly not in it for an eventual Monster Energy Drink sponsorship, find a way to stand out from the unceasing multitude? Costumes? Please, no. Brutal NFTs? Leave the hall. Splashes of Auto-Tune cleans? Okay, that might actually work for a slam band. For me, and apparently for Costa Rica’s Astriferous, as well, one of the answers might very well be as simple as this:

RIFF BREAKOUTS

Ohhhh, you know the score—when a death metal song is just plugging away at being a death metal song, then suddenly everything drops away to make room for the grossest / meanest / gnarliest / deadliest / heaviest / pants-shittingliest riff one could ever hope to sweep in and carve away their blessed face. Astriferous indeed understands the advantage afforded to those who still remember how to clean the clocks of death metal freaks with riff breakouts, and although there’s plenty else to love throughout Pulsations from the Black Orb, it is the scattered riff breakouts that will stop the listener dead in their tracks and conjure the following reaction, no matter the time or place:

Evidence required? Of course, you discerning shopper, you. Take a listen to “Teleport Haze” and enjoy how the band sloughs through a delightfully gruesome and cavernous strut that’s reinforced with the requisite bullnecked, glottal howls we’ve all come to love and trust. The first evidence of riff breakout savagery springs loose around 1:10—it’s quick and dirty and thrashy and mean, and it’s just a taste of what’s in store later, following a bananas lead around 2:45.

The record is stacked with these delightfully cruel moments, bringing to mind any number of ancient underground acts from the distant past. For me personally, it’s the Mutilate the Corpse side of Monastery’s split with Anarchus from back in ’92 that springs to mind, which I find rather delightful.

Of course, there are additional factors at play to ensure Pulsations from the Black Orb stands out in the crowd, most of which deal with the innovative manner in which Astriferous blends their influences. A beefy, oily overall tone offsets the sporadic thrashy breakouts, calling to mind anything from Dismember to Gorement when things are peppier, and Rippikoulu when the pace suddenly gets dragged through some muck. And oh, yes, the record is certainly unafraid to drag you through some muck, death / dooming with the best of ‘em late in “Blinding the Seven Eyes of God,” and closing out side A by bringing the otherwise fairly bouncy “Metasymbiosis” (that spongy bass!) to a scrumptiously crumbling end that could’ve been torn from the annals of Sorrow’s classic Hatred and Disgust.

Side B is equally as multicolored and demolishing. “Forlorn and Immemorial” kicks things off with a surprising little acoustic number that feels Andy LaRocque-inspired. It sets a solemn tone for the ensuing “Ominous and Malevolent,” a bonkers heavy tune that manages to invoke the old-school drill press grinding fury of classic Macabre, but filtered through Sunlight Studios and the raw energy of a record such as Carnage’s Dark Recollections. “Lunomancy” is equally as pulverizing at the outset, but it eventually whisks in a generous stretch of cold atmosphere in its second half that’s later shredded to oblivion by yet another vicious breakout in the song’s closing seconds. And closing things out is an absolute slogfest of a cut, “Symmetries that Should Not Be,” which punctuates the 35-minute journey by slowly piling two tons of grave dirt directly onto the listener’s head.

It’s clear Astriferous isn’t terribly interested in reinventing the wheel here. This is a death metal record made for death metal freaks by death metal freaks, and all the freaks involved are the sort of individuals who’d probably wear a bootleg Deteriorate / Rotting in Hell shirt to a family baptism. Not reinventing the wheel doesn’t mean Pulsations from the Black Orb is devoid of creativity, though. Where Astriferous set themselves apart from the endless parade of competitors in today’s mightily cramped scene lies in the grim details that embellish the corners, plus the inventive manner in which the band sews all their rotted influences together like a misshapen David Cronenberg monstrosity (including the nightmarish nod to Massacre’s From Beyond that adorns the cover.) The results are perfectly raw, perfectly walloping, and perfectly suited for anyone who enjoys music that might result in a “condemned” sign being hung on your skull after listening to it.