Having spent three short chapters scouring the universe for three unthinkable monstrosities to summon for its extinction event, the unnamed extra-sentient traveler finally prepares “the Event”, its assault upon the Earth and the known universe. Now exiting his astrally projected clairvoyant witness of these recruitments our mortal protagonist gathers strength for the coming invasion per these abominations, unthinking hoards set upon the death and devourment of the known universe. The future looks fantastically bleak as we cut into New Jersey-based brutal technical death metal project Engulf‘s debut full-length, a sharply conceived concatenation of past-and-present firmae illustrate the havoc which arrives as we enter a new warring age per this new adversary. ‘The Dying Planet Weeps‘ is undoubtedly still scenery built by a rhythm guitarist, a “riff album” in a most direct sense, but a series of new and old collaborations help to glue and gather these forms into something inspired and fittingly elevated in its continuation of prior feats, eventually amounting to a brutally stated epic cut down to a quick yet never too-dense series of events.

Steadily at work on a what is essentially a bedroom death metal project since 2015 Engulf has primarily been a solo effort by way of guitarist/vocalist Hal Microutsicos per his public-released recordings thus far. Though a number of songs had been demoed as early as 2015 they’d been reworked for a couple of years until presentable, starting with the very brief two-song EP (‘Subsumed Atrocities‘, 2017) which’d clearly been inspired by classic death metal of a more brutal era. After some positive reception to their first EP a follow-up reprising additional songs written back in 2015 came soon after in the form of ‘Gold and Rust‘ (2018), a notable release which I’d reviewed at the time, commending the artists choice to begin his own world building and lore while retaining a very classic sound which didn’t give into the usual excesses of technical death metal. At that point I would more squarely classify Engulf‘s efforts as brutal technical death metal with some moshable tendencies to its movement, this was more clearly stated when the ‘Transcend‘ EP released in 2019.

Though he is the sole performer for all instruments right down to the programmed drums on the first three EP releases, Microutsicos‘ is primarily a rhythm guitarist and one interested in the downtuned and atmospheric reaches of popular late 90’s through mid-2000’s death metal wherein his own vernacular has been built through study of Rutan-era Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal, and likewise uses some semi-dissonant flourishes and moshable brutal death techniques which should recall mid-90’s Gorguts and Suffocation‘s influence upon the early-to-mid 2000’s at the very least. This is not such an uncommon feat throughout the ages and more recently bands like Construct of Lethe and Alchemy of Flesh have managed similar results using those core points of inspiration in their own ways but I’d suggest this style begins to show more interest in progressive, dissonant, and eerie atmospheric modes which are more in line with the glut of sci-fi death metal records we’d found sparking up beyond ~2005; Though it has been several years since we’ve heard from the project that shouldn’t suggest that ‘The Dying Planet Weeps‘ is drastically different in terms of style and presentation, though we do get a harder-edged severity in terms of taut-necked technical riffcraft and a very sharp Pär Olofsson illustration for its cover. In that sense if you’d appreciated any of their prior material this album should prove affirming rather than off-putting, though the sci-fi/fantasy theme and narrative of the lyrics doesn’t end up running all that deep beyond a dire, cool enough scenario.

Holding some parity with past previews and preamble yet doing something bigger, album-worthy, for this LP comes by way of a consistent collaboration with (highly underrated) Alustrium guitarist Chris Kelly who has helped to record and produce most all of Engulf‘s work while also providing a guest solo on one of the more standout pieces on the album (“Earthbore“). They’ve gotten a cold and percussive result out of the mix/master and one which successfully blurs the more obvious edges of the faux drumming ensuring that ‘The Dying Planet Weeps‘ feels less like a throwback to a certain era and more a modern brutal tech-death metal album with an aggressive, sharp-cornered build. As “Withered Suns Collapse” hammers into its opening moments the biggest change keen-eared bassists among us might notice is the session bass guitar work from Giacomo Gastaldi of Darkend who not only helps to make the rhythm section more believable but provides a snappier sense of kinetic volley as the song grinds through. This quickly confirms the refined feeling of their work and adds to the almost Deeds-esque narrative of Engulf‘s work though it doesn’t hold fast to this first impression, appearing a bit all over the place as the next couple of songs take a ride in an almost deathcore-tinged direction.

The first comes by way of Kevin Miller, vocalist for Alluvial, who provides vocals in the last third of standout single “Bellows From the Aether” as the song resorts to a sort of slamming breakdown, a flat moment for my own taste in terms of the early introduction of the record. We do get a more rousing return to action beyond that point from Sven de Caluwé‘s (Aborted) guest on the livelier “The Nefarious Hive” though I’m not sure how much sense it made to pull in so many guests for a first full-length. Early in the listening process I wasn’t all that on board for the full listen until the Ulcerate-esque fuming of “Ominous Grandeur” presented itself, allowing the bassist to show some additional skill and elevate the already impressive rhythmic blur of the song. From there the remainder of the album quickly figured its grooves, this time easing further than ever away from the Morbid Angel-isms (save the guest solo from Patrick Bonvin of Near Death Condition on “Plagued Oblivion”) and closer to a polished but not overtly technical death metal mark. I’d particularly appreciated the more overtly atmospheric guidance of “Earthbore” as these more dramatic angles taken were the best parts of this relatively short attack.

For a debut full-length entering into the crowded realm of intense modern death metal ‘The Dying Planet Weeps‘ does well to cut its impact down to only what matters and never wastes a second of the listener’s time with half-baked ideas or under-thought experimentation. The level of refinement and precision here yields an intense but experiential record which communicates its large-scaled decimation and bleak sci-fi/fantasy lore in notable presentation, leaving a dent in my mind which thankfully does stretch beyond the usual “Cool riffs, bro.” and this is helped by easing off of too-obvious points of influence amidst the steadily improving production values and performances found within the project. Engulf‘s vision and interest in the core tenets of pure death metal are easy to get behind, though I am interested to see what else they might do now that they’ve done such a fine job delivering in excess of the promise of their initial three item preamble. A moderately high recommendation.

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