Physically deformed and psychically rebuilt by the strenuous demands of a meteor-split dualistic cosmology, our protagonist fends off the gloom inherent to new-found higher degrees of perception while the threat of an unwilling transformation ripples beneath their flesh. Impinged upon, soiled from within by the awaiting rupture of inward facing darkness New Jersey-based brutal death metal project Dead and Dripping can be found rewriting their own greater genetic template in the process of detangling the thoughts that’d become their third and most engaging full-length album. ‘Blackened Cerebral Rifts‘ smartly trades the relentlessly on-rushing brutality of their first two full-lengths for a more dynamically viable stream of consciousness, one which chops away at grooves as its main point of damage while still tending to the technical, brutal and hideously over the top charm one’d want from a return to their realm.

Dead and Dripping formed circa 2016 as a solo project from Evan Daniele (Sentient Horror) who’d previously been in a jokey death metal band (Anal Exorcism) and a post-hardcore group but would focus his drummer nerd skills into this particular project with slightly more serious study. Inspired by the percussive grooves of groups like Devourment and Cerebral Effusion the early work from the project was entirely apt and well up to par as we roll into his first demo (‘Disillusioned by Excessive Human Consumption‘, 2016) a pretty straightforward exploration of brutal death metal grooves with strong appreciation for slamming brutal death’s emphasis on the breakdown given some modest space to develop. The capability was there and there were riffs but the stylized personality of the band wouldn’t begin to emerge until 2020, assumedly because the pandemic allowed for the idea to gestate and realize, when their first LP (‘Profane Verses of Murderous Rhetoric‘, 2020) released. The mix of bopping grooves, guttural vocal fry and strong variety of rhythmic pull definitely reminded me of the first Guttural Secrete album at the time but that record was a lot of hype and few points of body-spearing mindflayer action, eh, it didn’t stick in my case. Consider that early work a curated collection of the outsized traits of brutal death as it compounded into overwrought zeitgeist, hungry for outlier status circa the late 90’s/early 2000’s.

The general leap made beyond that point was less a breakthrough and more of a refinement of concept wherein the focus shifted to crafting more of a guitar-driven experience still well girded by the fellow’s knack for brutal death percussion, ultimately leading to a surreal and nigh progressive touch on Dead and Dripping‘s second LP (‘Miasmic Eulogies Predicating and Eternal Doctrine‘, 2021) where the listener can hear similar intent but with a mile-long stretch of patch notes applied to their work. A more technical feature on the dual guitar track and a much more active bass guitar presence meant I’d read it as similar to the general step towards tech-death many more traditional brutal death metal bands made circa 2005-2008, who’d likewise typically leaned into a sci-fi/horror theme, but the most interesting songs on that album were referential of more classic acts such as Cryptopsy or abstracted from movement/structure we’d expect from the Immolation-esque (see: “Indicted with Ethereal Devastation”) or the Morbid Angel-conscious (“Eroded by Illusory Parasitic Invertebrates”). I think it is worth taking a look at the previous album in approach of this third one since it still represents the most crucial step taken in the artist’s ongoing exploratory period where weirding-out and mutilating these forms has called forth a bit more substance over flair… something slightly more technical yet difficult to describe as straightforward in its initial read per a focus on surreal, psychedelic atmosphere/aesthetic.

An assortment of limbs, tethered to a throbbing mass of foaming flesh. — ‘Blackened Cerebral Rifts‘ is yet another rapid-fired and gurgling muss of frantic, erratically sewn together brutal death grooves only this time the whole undertaking receives a live wired shock of twanging tech-aggression which buries its referential gutters a bit deeper and lends a bit of nuance to the beating. The whopping slap of Daniele‘s drumming is yet a key motivator as we clock into opener “Tragic Ascent of Absurdity’s Pale Moon” ensuring that this is going to be another organically beaten-apart stew as the odd-timed step and shuffling patternation of the first few verses reveal themselves as if committed to tape during a severe earthquake. Screaming and shredding guitar noise and grumbling give us a hint of later Rutan-era Ancient Ones before the song finishes and no doubt this is the most energizing, considered opener from Dead and Dripping to date. From there he hits upon a kinda deathgrinding Demilich gear on “Humanoid Statues Parading Condescending Gestures”, an interesting enough turn taken that resolves with edging-up riff runs, bass spanking hits, and guttural heaving-about.

‘Black Cerebral Rifts‘ doesn’t necessarily lose steam from that point on but relies upon its effects wetted chain of guitar noise and an emphasis on inhaled/guttural vocals to generate spectacle moreso than detailed interest in some cases. I definitely got a kick out of the over the top results of this to start, especially as they carry a groove-metallic ride through the full eight minutes of “Infinitely Plummeting Into Violent Portals of Delusion” which briefly recall out of left field groups like (early) Wicked Innocence and perhaps Wormed per the vocals but this never manifests an entirely complete or impactful thought; Whereas Daniele‘s craft previously carried itself on emergent or seeming random ideas which kept the mind off-center at all times the shift here seems to be greater chunks of mildly memorable grooves interspersed, chumming the waters for points of easier pace. This meant hitting a song like “Kaleidoscopic Visions of Porous Obsidian Eternities” was initially disappoint, having felt its plainly chugging second half underwhelmed beyond the momentum Dead and Dripping had set up over on Side A.

As we lose the hazy, impressionistic blur of forms and instead begin to stare directly at the alien on the autopsy table everything begins to look and feel entirely unreal. The second half of the album doesn’t necessarily lack so much as it bumps into some inconsistent pieces on the way out. I’d found “Molecular Degradation Upon Warped Onyx Stoves” to be the best of the later pieces for its ranting, run on rhythmic touch (re: “Indicted with Ethereal Devastation”) and in fact I’d hoped this album’s easier pace might’ve allowed for more of those fixated and atmospherically persistent pieces this time around. If anything ‘Blackened Cerebral Rifts‘ attunes itself to an even more brutal standard when dissected piece by piece from the cracked-at opener through the snare-popping battery at the highest point of resolve (closer “Hysterical Mirages of Otherworldly Calamity”). The full listen indicated a sea change happening in slow, uncomfortably framed motion where the result was devolved yet more engaging than ever.

When held under a microscope and scraped of its innards the ambitiously architected carapace of Dead and Dripping is yet magnificent as a specimen capable of rapid states of evolutionary adaptation. Even if I’d felt ‘Blackened Cerebral Rifts‘ made curious, indeterminable work of conveying its themes and doesn’t seem to have fully made the transition into signature there is enough of a killer spectacle here that it’d been an entertaining ride no matter how many times I’d cut through it. Though I’m not sure how well it’ll hold up over time my time with this album has stuck in mind more than any of their past releases and still managed a considerably over-the-top spectacle throughout. A moderately high recommendation.

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