From an emptied horizon they emerged one after another trading hand-in-hand the vajra’s cut and resonance bell down the line as the synthesis of the five colored flame generated unpredictably wrathful forms. Each reflection of the last wave emitted darkens with exposure, more tarnished than the last by the scorched eminence of the lightning blade and the wisdom of destruction imbued by way of Kolkata, India-based occult Shaivite blackened death metal duo Tetragrammacide who’d present their second full-length album of anti-existential war in a thrilling display of riff-obsessed speed and brutality. Long divorced from the scream and rumble of a peaking amplifier as their medium these perpetrators of karmic hammering who’d drive ‘Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an‘ into skull today craft maniac death metal intending a dangerous, confrontational pulse sans the obscuration of their earliest work. A follow-up in most every sense this second LP aims for density of ideas, quality of riffcraft, and vexing weave of brutal and hallucinatory textures presented as an attempt to push the limits of their transformation further beyond surface-level chaos.

If you are still hung-up on the early works of Tetragrammacide from formation in 2012, the first couple of promotional releases (‘Tetragrammacidal Oration‘, 2014) and an EP (‘Typhonian Wormholes: Indecipherable Anti​-​Structural Formulæ‘, 2015) which’d been set within the war metal/noise category, they seem to have put to rest that side of their sound when their debut LP (‘Primal Incinerators of Moral Matrix‘, 2017) released a couple years later. That record was more clearly inspired by Angelcorpse (and related) at the very least and was often mentioned beside the bloody wrath of Pseudogod and Teitanblood nearby, the sort of bestial black/death and war metal relevant spheres which read as composed as death metal ought to be while likewise indicating the lineage of the early masters. In the six years beyond said debut we’ve gotten more from the India underground both on the noise/black front (Kapala), similarly over the top work from related acts (Jyotiṣavedāṅga), and bands which I would mention as contemporaries to that first LP’s sound, such as impressive labelmates Aparthiva Raktadhara. As we collect these relevant articles in the run-up to ‘Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an‘ expectations should have risen phenomenally beyond 2017 in terms of speed, irreverence, and the verbose high-density extremity of their work.

This new record delivers upon those expectations through what I’d consider iteration, focusing on the spectacle of speed and violence while offering more substantive threads of riffcraft-built brutality in steadily erratic motion. In simpler terms, we get a “bigger/better” approach in some respects but without resorting to comically maximal results. Beyond that general point the main thing that Tetragrammacide accomplish here is a strong personality, one which reflects both outsider culture and occult-imbued fascinations well in line with classic extreme metal aggression. The auld intent and vibrancy of death metal is key here as we consider the second generation out-brutalized vision of bands like Krisiun and Angelcorpse (among others) and how they’d kept the deadly violence and blasphemy of the form alive through bestial death, war metal and black/death metal where the “dangerous” aggression and murderous intent within sustains that specific ideation of ‘old school’ extreme metal spirit. Tetragrammacide understand that for that feeling to be real and not just a familiar product they have to embody it in an exaggerated way which is tempered away from comedy of excess and I think they’ve nailed this note especially well on this album.

As much is evident as we feel a great big shove and blast into “Spectral Hyaenas of Amenta Howl, the Vulture of Ma’at Descends, and Tahuti Watches Without His Ape” where the athletic pace and roaring dementia of ‘Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an‘ begins its insidious thread, a relentless series of volleys which press immediately into the next piece (“Mandelbrot Scarab of Fractal Manifestation Trapped in the Arachnid Webs, Spun Above the Hidden Pathways Into Non-Euclidean Interbetweenness”) which introduces harmonized riffcraft and lumbering semi-melodic statements which rain down upon the ear like a gluey, skin dissolving acid rain. While the percussive force of the song leads the barrage of it all these opening pieces don’t allow a tangible break from the central focus of the rhythm guitars and their dark, jagged lines of interplay. The first piece to crack a hole in the sky and let some extra atmosphere loose doesn’t really occur until the mid-album breaking point, “Nuit Arches over the Neither-Neither City of Cubes; Hadit Meditates While Hanging Upside Down Inside a Tesseract-Ka’aba“, and this was a point where I’d felt the guitar work particularly overtakes the oppression of the drumming for the sake of its memorable riffcraft and many-layered cruel directive, a clear peak and punctuative point for the first half.

The use of extensive descriptive song titles herein takes me back to nights spent pouring over lyric booklets for groups like Absu and Acheron, the type of esoteric and occult themed writing which is over the top in both setting the scene and presenting somewhat impenetrable references knotted together to match the intensity and/or density of a particular piece. Some of these can the reduced to simpler meaning whereas words like “skullphabet” are either lost in translation or just kind of funny in their imagined imagery. The esoteric use of language is yet valuable as the knot which ties up the mind beyond the easily read brutality of the experience otherwise, linking together the puzzle of it all with another layer of cryptic, morbid curiosity beyond anything too academic and instead honed in on the visceral ancient current Tetragrammacide have become known for.

The second half of the album strides along at a calamitous pace toward the darker, more twisted side of their work without necessarily amplifying the brutality of movement, sticking to the double-bass pulsed drilling of the first half with a few points of groove (see: “One Who Weaves The Chthonic Garland Of 52 Skullphabets Severed By The Sword Of Neti-Neti”) breaking things up slightly. At this point I’d found the immersion available to this album was superior to their 2017 debut yet the whole of the experience began to bleed and blur together to some strong degree. “Thanatos And Eros Wrestle Forever, Folding And Unfolding From The Substratum Of Supreme Voidness Of S’lba” does somewhat restate some of the guitar techniques of “Nuit Arches over the Neither-Neither City of Cubes; Hadit Meditates While Hanging Upside Down Inside a Tesseract-Ka’aba” but in a way which continues the fluid rant available to the full listen and upholds the immersive qualities that’d been in effect beyond the first piece. This might not be an obvious place for accomplished death metal musicianship which has a wild, raw soul to it but there is a brutal muscle memory which only intensifies as the album drones on, the peak of this being perhaps the Nile-esque weave of the verse riffs on “One Who Weaves The Chthonic Garland Of 52 Skullphabets Severed By The Sword Of Neti-Neti”.

My overall takeaway on ‘Typho-Tantric Aphorisms From The Arachneophidian Qur’an‘ is that it’s experience is perfectly too intense for its own good, that their valuation of violence and daring touch upon the bloodiest, most cruel side of true extreme metal feeds into their purposefully achieved over the top style. I was glad that they hadn’t reached for too-ridiculous pacing or technicality to get that point across and that the Tetragrammacide sound still remains one built around an intense spiritual conversation and not a plaintive blurring of the senses or too-strangely mechanized wield. I’d felt like the impressive cover painting from artist Orryelle Defenestrate helped deepen the experience per its symbolism and expressive style, giving the album a serious yet dramatic character right from the first impression. I’d nonetheless walked away from this release considering my take only just beneath the surface here since having the booklet, any lyrics and whatnot important for connecting with their work beyond a generally impressed fan of death metal furor. If it only burrows as deep as that impression then I’d still found this second album from the group thrilling enough as a listening experience. A high recommendation.

https://shop.ironbonehead.de/en/

---