Engulf – The Dying Planet Weeps Review

There’s a consensus among the extreme music faithful that death metal is more popular than ever before. If you’re a sadomasochist and enjoy the torture of social media, just keep an eye out. These opinions ring out like the snare on Bathory’s Octagon or on Metallica’s St. Anger. But in terms of its global exposure, it may actually be true. Although I’m too lazy to find the numbers, surely statistics exist to back that point up—merch numbers, ticket sales, streaming, and so on. I will say, however, that the notion that death metal paralleled Tom Hanks in Cast Away after the ’90s—stranded on some deserted island—is simply false. Look, it never needed an SOS. Everything comes back around—except big ’80s hair, I suppose.

Nonetheless, it’s an exciting time to be a death metal fan. While plenty of worship bands are out there for your consumption, other bands use the genre’s founders as a foundation to build upon and take bits and pieces from to throw at the proverbial wall of death. Thus, if you’re a fan of death metal smorgasbords, I present Exhibit A: the debut full-length album from Engulf, The Dying Planet Weeps.

Hailing from New Jersey, Engulf mastermind and Blasphemous member Hal Microutsicos recorded an album that relies on technicality, dissonance, brutality, and atmosphere. Engulf is a project inspired by the genre’s ancestors. Without the Deaths, Morbid Angels, Decapitateds, and Gorguts paving the way the last few decades, this Engulf record wouldn’t exist. With that said, Engulf isn’t a worship band. Instead, I genuinely believe Microutsicos created something unique from the remnants of the legends above while sprinkling some contemporary influences in there as well. And, most importantly, excuse my eloquence in saying this: the album is entertaining. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention you’ll find some pretty killer features on this album, too. But, I’m nice, so I won’t spoil them. 

Immediately, Microutsicos sets the tone with “Withered Suns Collapse,” backed by plenty of technicality and brutality, almost a mixture of something you might find on early Gorguts and Ulcerate records. Regarding the vocal style, you’ll discover it to be dirtier and more annunciated than the consistently weightier tones of a modern Stare Into Death and Be Still or Shrines of Paralysis-era Paul Kelland. It’s essentially more akin to primitive Chuck Schuldiner, for lack of a more obscure comparison. Microutsicos does, at times, dig beneath the soil for those core-of-the-earth-deep howls. He also does a splendid job of teetering on the edge of complete and utter chaos. However, oddly, the song seamlessly molds together in a perfectly cohesive way. For example, I admire the drum arrangements on “Withered Suns Collapse.” The exchange between mid-paced beats and flurries of blasts are assembled quite calculatedly as they build up to breakneck fills between roaring vocal lines. While strong here on the intro track, it’s a trend Microutsicos leans heavily into for the remainder of the album.

There’s also an atmospheric influence, most notably on “Ominous Grandeur” and “Lunar Scourge,” sparked by some reverb, dissonance, and bellowing, guttural vocals. On “Ominous Grandeur,” specifically, Microutsico’s songwriting prowess shows as the song has a captivating, groovy thickness to it, along with some memorable tempo shifts, that will have you smashing the “replay” button with the weight of ten thousand suns.

If you’re drooling for Morbid Angel, Nihility-era Decapitated, or something with some chunk to it, then “Bellows from the Aether,” “The Nefarious Hive,” or “Plagued Oblivion” might be right up your alley. And as you’ll discover, Gorguts lies within the DNA of each album chapter. So, of course, you’ll find that again here, too. There are also some dashes of early Hate Eternal along this Murderer’s Row of tracks. Undoubtedly—and rightfully—inspired by Luc Lemay and Erik Rutan, Microutsicos has a knack for constructing catchy, memorable riffs you can sink your teeth into.

The album rounds out with “Earthbore” and the title track, “The Dying Planet Weeps.” “Earthbore” is a slow burn at first and the longest track on the album, but it holds its rightful place as the launchpad for the finale. As a composer, Microutsicos understands the significance of the gradual build before the coup de grace. The song’s second half is beautiful, with swirling shredding and a cosmic solo before bleeding into the album’s final offering, a chest-pounding instrumental that circles back around to similar atmospheric tones heard at the start of the record.

Holistically, Microutsicos is on the verge of something special with Engulf, and The Dying Planet Weeps is the foundation. If you’re a death metal fan, you won’t have to dig too deep to find something that clicks with you. Plenty of easter eggs and intricacies are buried beneath the sounds Microutsicos creates, but his abilities are very much surface-level. It’ll be an audibly heavy and very enjoyable 36 minutes of your life. I’m no Sylvia Brown, but if I were you, I’d keep an eye on this project moving forward so you can gatekeep it a few years from now.