Transcendental elevation, or cruelest decimation? — The first stage of our collective descent arrived in the most innocuous way possible, a slow and euphoric dirge into baleful violence and vocal insanity typical of the ever-depraved human species. Mangled thoughts, paranoiac delusions peppered with hair-pulling dementia were nonetheless symptoms of the flesh being disconnected from its will by the psychic resonance of an eternally hidden Eldritch god. With all mammalian minds barren of any collective notions or sentience as death piled large so came the pinging of the dark molecule into visible space, the whorl of genetic material forced by eerie gravitational glom unto a grey slurry beasts in every combination. Without sensical witness to the deranged, world-eating hunger beyond this point we’ll have to rely upon ‘Pulsations From the Black Orb‘, a horrified account from Costa Rican ‘old school’ death metal quartet Astriferous who’d appear before us as possessed spectres of the old guard at its most ripened peak, a deep world-spanning connection with the ancient ones that’ll act as a pillar of insight for the purpose at hand. With great formative precedence set in the past we now find these folks adeptly forging their own voice within the form, blessed by the strictures of high-rate and high value riffcraft from end to end yet equally concerned with the listening experience itself as a tightly honed and all-killer event. This goes above and beyond all expectations for a debut from a nowadays classics obsessed band which not only bodes well for the future but, more importantly delivers a spectacle which devastates the sluggish thought-void abounding in today’s quasi-classicist death metal spheres.

Astriferous formed back in 2018 between members of Bloodsoaked Necrovoid, Corpse Garden and several other groups which came about after the fact (check out Candarian, Umbra Conscienta, Engraved, et al.) and their goal has always been ‘old school’ informed death metal proper with what I’d consider a genuine pre-1993 affect which keeps it brutal yet dynamic in structure and pacing right at the point where classic death metal had outgrown the simpler forms of late thrash metal but hadn’t lost the complex, feverish attack of its riffcraft. They’ve always been the sort of band you can pick up, get the right feeling from their whole gig and walk away satisfied with the filth, the furor at which they’ve attacked it without any of it landing as the usual nowadays pandering to softer, mushed-over minds. They’d tapped into the right stuff right from the beginning with ‘Raise High the Scepter of Indulgence‘ (2019) not only in terms of a brutal demo-era Demigod style sound but also the classic late 80’s/early 90’s demo tape look which’d sat entirely right with me despite the brain-clogged enthusiasm of my review at the time. It was clear what they were all about and they’ve only delivered above the bar set by that first tape since it released.

Despite all of the flailing I’d done in review of each of Astriferous‘ works released thus far it remains difficult to put my finger exactly on the pulse of their subterranean brutality, which blends the ancient slimed-over rawness of Finnish death metal, the challenging planar shifts of post-‘Testimony of the Ancients‘ death metal with infrequent shards of death/doom. This doesn’t entirely excuse them from maniac bursts of bestial thrashing basement level stuff, either, so there is some sophisticated machinery within their capabilities but they create a monstrosity within their attack. They’d certainly lead with this expansion of possibilities as the major appeal of their first mLP ‘The Lower Levels of Sentience‘ (2020) which I’d reviewed very favorably upon release, seeing it as a sort of blueprint for where their original idea met with a need to thrash away at their sound a bit, lean into a bit more of the insistent Adramelech side of things, find spaces to thrash within without losing the imposing atmospheric entombment of the full effect. This very much informs where ‘Pulsations From the Black Orb‘ treads today but it was only the first shove as this release expands the possibilities, tunes the atmospheric accost more sinister and never forgets to make it all about the endless flow state (the riffs) available to the -real- death metal experience.

Each side of ‘Pulsations From the Black Orb‘ arrives with parity of effect starting with a brief instrumental piece to set the tone, two riff-crammed and twisted death metal pieces which present a non-linear pathway toward a slower, grandiose endpoint which resolves within cataclysmic doomed affect. This leaves the full listening experience evenly paced and cut between two distinct sides per tape and vinyl efficacy of experience which also makes for a dense but never redundant full listen. ~35 minutes is the perfect length of time to deeply immerse within the minutiae of each action yet we never reach a point of pure vexation, only just enough mystery in their forms to pull the mind back in to examine each thread over and over. This is arguably even more sophisticated than average today and beyond the uncalculated head-down focus of earliest 90’s death metal, even. The actual balance struck between entertaining wheeling grooves, cosmically stewed weirding riffcraft and imposing vocal register comes up front with “Blinding the Seven Eyes of God”, which should indicate just how much of a riff record they’ve intended to present without clogging the pipeline too profusely. We’ve only just scratched the surface with this piece yet it is dense enough with its blend of peak Incantation-esque thrills, Crematory stoked anxietous pace, and Finndeath warped bent that that first impression registers as an enormous subterranean emergence, and exciting torrent beyond the foreboding psychedelic pulse of the instrumental piece (“The Black Orb”) which introduces it.

“Teleport Haze” allows us to gasp for air for a second before Astriferous come hammering down with their best, a technical and twisted barrage which delivers upon the best of the early 90’s death metal underground in terms of gnarled, burnt and exaggerative rhythm guitar runs which evolve into nigh progressive mannerisms. Physical, clangorous and built upon a core percussive statement the grinding and screeching of gears is half of the thrill as these guitarists wield a classic sensation of controlled disarray, a zombified saunter which soon reveals a precision-minded alien aggression. I’d be impressed enough if these taut and concussive sort of pieces were all these folks did but they’ve pushed their work to the point where each song carries its own weight and “Teleport Haze” is just one window into a greater diabolic thread. From there they drop with some immediacy into “Metasymbiosis” a more declarative, staunch bellow from the pulpit which begs I’d address the strong variety of well-defined bass guitar tones which give this record an extra level of character beyond its dominant vocal performances and riff-obsessed structuring/voice. Each of the first four pieces on this record are fleshed and all the more impactful for the presence of the bass as more than simple rhythmic girding and, I suppose speaks to me as a fan of that fine line between elite early 90’s death metal aggression and the more progressive, high skilled ‘technical’ death metal prior to the self-eating tech-death space race beyond ~1994 or so. This bass guitar presence becomes all the more crucial to bloating and staggering the death/doom collapse of the piece as it ends Side A.

At this point I’ll admit I was already a spuming mass of skull jelly, thrilled to no end at the evolution the band had presented beyond their first few recordings right from the first listen to this record. It should be said more often that many newer bands rush to their debut full-length without the perspective to make it worthy, without proving any of aspect of their craft bears value, while lacking the experience or excitable node to pull interesting and redeeming material from but in the case of Astriferous it feels like they’ve taken a serious head-first plummet into the material, fidelity, and lyrical panache that it represents the necessary leap one expects from a serious band’s evolution. Side B helps to collectively confirm that this is not a milled-at side project, but a band which takes their approach to ‘old school’ death metal standards seriously and delivers an idyllic, profound whip at the form which is nearly too fine in its detail to stick on the first listen. The racing death/thrash maniac rhythmic runs of “Ominous and Malevolent” reach a sort of Seance level of ‘Legion‘-esque push-and-pull within the frantic whirring of it all, building more than momentum but a technical death/thrash level of violence which is of equal or greater furor than the album opener.

In keeping with this idea of parity on both perceived halves of the record “Lunomancy” is the Finno-technical weirding dread of the record unleashing from all pustules much in the way “Teleport Haze” arrived on Side A, a blazing and brutal peak which again showcases what Astriferous built with the cavern-whetted bones of ‘The Lower Levels of Sentience‘. As soon as that moment crests into the wholly doomed and slithering final piece, “Symmetries That Should Not Be”, the structural neatness of the listening experience and how considered/tactfully it presents itself became glaring from my perspective. At the very least the quartet’ve considered every moment of this record and ending on a quasi-“Where the Slive Live” level creeper is too perfect as the fatal final gasping moments of horror they leave us with.

The gist of it is that these folks bring the high standards of true ‘old school’ death metal on their debut and while some of their influences help to accelerate their vision into an impressive form quite early in their lifespan every part of this debut is considered but never so lost in thought that it doesn’t completely kill. There is a brutality and inspired sensibility here which is rare and even if that may be find them perceived as a gig which simply “gets it” in terms of the true death metal ideal, the music itself excites well and beyond the norm for its substance, there is much more than style here to say the least. ‘Pulsations From the Black Orb‘ ultimately convinces that Astriferous aren’t just another traditional death metal inspired side project among thousands but a prime example of exactly when, where and how the underground sub-genre reached its most infamous point of surreal, creative and tactful disruptive artistic capability. Inspired work and easily one of the best death metal adjacent releases of the year thus far. A very high recommendation.

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