Eye-wateringly nauseous in their gut-gathered indignance the long road trudged toward grand introductions finds Atlanta, Georgia-based death metal quintet METAPHOBIC weathered, honed into a whorl of inward-echoic torment as their debut full-length album arrives channeling fear, wrath and possessed uncertainty. ‘Deranged Excruciations‘ is the product of careful consideration wherein the weight of years has pressed and collapsed their vision into a dense and selectively writ gem sporting a fusion of old, new and older school death metal sensibilities. Though their demo tape that’d hit a handful of years ago was obviate enough signifier of their potential this one’ll surprise folks seeking ingenious points of riffcraft and brutally struck death metal aggression. Expressed via a seeming veteran force this debut album is far from green indecision as possible, these folks present work which is well above average in form and terrifyingly memorable in its thoughtful, destructive scourge.

Metaphobic formed as a quartet as current and former members of the Atlanta-area underground (Paladin, Sadistic Ritual, Obsolescence) dissolved away from their previous group (Cesspool) and eventually linked up with bassist Dan Ratanasit from Malformity to complete the lineup in 2019. They’d come up with an incredible set of three songs for their first demo (‘Demo‘, 2021) where a suggestion of (early) Incantation-esque intensity and brutality a la Cemetery Urn met up with some prime Finnish death metal nods, a wrathful style akin to later (‘Pure Blood Doom‘-era) Adramelech. Each of those pieces presented itself wall-to-wall with riffs and focused on the brutal precision of their attack, garnering a secondary tag for technical death metal aptitudes a la the second Gorguts record or nearby. Everything was squarely lined up for ‘Deranged Excruciations‘ to be stellarly set vehemence, a brilliant first work from a promising act right from the first preview… and that is ultimately what we get here though, again, I’d felt this was a surprising mauler as they’ve developed this debut far more than expected.

Split into equally shaped halves between eight songs ‘Deranged Excruciations‘ leads with intensity, peaks within insane riff-driven highs, and leaves each side devastated with one longer form piece as its point of punctuation. Side A begins at the cliff’s edge of sanity and all that follows is distorted and descending pathos beyond the crumbling lip of “Spectral Circle“, the ritual catalyst enacted. This short and disorienting strike into tumult takes seconds to grip to skull and begin juicing its contents via a blender of Immolation-esque freneticism and more straight forward yet moshable late 90’s tech-death feeling lines from the rhythm section, disorienting to start and grounding to finish the thought. Quick and simple as this song is it is yet a song, a proper opener to stir the brainpan a bit and a complete thought, a sign of the level of craft to come.

While we’re already indoctrinated into their cause by the time “Execration” hits it’d be too much of an oversight not to praise the ‘Unholy Cult‘ level shit happening on this song, a wild standout for the crookedly drawn line its rhythms manage, connecting itself with a thread of ulterior Finnish death metal twisted riffs and deeper growls abounding ’til a ‘Jar of Kingdom‘-level lead settles itself atop the main verse riffs. This isn’t just a brutal-ass song but one that’d managed to make the gut-ripping whip of it memorable, almost as much as the piece that follows; From my point of view the breakthrough take on this record is “Disciples of Vengeance” and its Justin Broadrick angled dissonance to start. This nearly ten minute closer for Side A ends up being the best song on this album for my own taste and the point where guitarists Peter Lai and Shawn Staszko truly shine in their collaboration, running the gamut from melodic leads to harrowingly slow, sludged-at dissonant lunges without ever hitting a vein that feels off-subject or ill-fitting per the organische delirium which Metaphobic carries through this whole record. It is incredibly rare to find a death metal band with guitarists so gifted for a balance of skill and brutality where every extreme point of interest is functional, set with intent beyond showmanship in either direction.

In a day and age where the average best-selling death metal album might as well have a twenty minute four-note synth progression as Side B Metaphobic have ensured each of these eight songs count, or, at least feature more than double the minimum requirements for riff count. You’d think a mid-album demo-era song like “Veiled Horizons” would be set just past the biggest piece(s) on the album as a buffer, a quick burner to introduce the second half, and while it does have that charging forth sweep to its movement to start the deep-echoing vocals and rip through feels like the gears are shifting with every riff-change on the burn through moshable, crookedly bent and classicist wizardry. I don’t know if it is the most memorable song on the album but they haven’t phoned in a second of its composition and performance.

The successes of Side A are repeated here though we find the mid-paced side of the band finds its voice alongside increasing feature of lead guitars, as we find on “Hypnosis Engram” a song which provides plenty of room for the solos to flex and flap. I’d particularly appreciated the change-up around ~2:21 minutes in as the band continue to introduce different parts of their ouevre for effect. In some sense they’re still gilding these songs wall-to-wall with interest per the demo-era material but at this point the (assumed) main composer Lai has made room for the entire band to flex and breathe within what could’ve been a suffocating experience of pure brutality and just riffs. No two solos are the same, no two songs are cut from the same plain-assed mold and this carries through to closer “Insatiable Abyss”, a song which to me recalls the intensity of ‘When the Sky Turns Black‘ while leaning into the chance to shred a bunch of wild leads and even some of the Demilichian currents suggested by their demo in the span of its ~8 minute exit.

From the first few songs ‘Deranged Excruciations‘ proves itself a self-directed force with a great understanding, or taste level, of where the impact and most-lucid points of craftsmanship lie in the realm of pure death metal. In keeping the crest of classic technical death metal in view for the entirety of their descent into the abyss an impressive level of skill and malevolence match up here in a way which is exceptional, well above average. Cover it with one of the more visceral images from the maestro Jon Zig and you’ve got a serious damned death metal record in hand here from Metaphobic. These folks clearly know all the right gears to put into the machine to make it work but that isn’t what makes this album great, I mean the riffs are obviously what’d pulled me into their realm, but rather the diabolic tension of the work is masterful yet not overwrought with piled on ideas or unfitting flair. For a debut this record is (again) shockingly well-formed, immediate in its effect and entertaining throughout. A very high recommendation.

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