In their telling of William Dyer‘s cautionary tale, a thorough detailing of a prior expedition to the Antarctic wherein their discovery of unspeakable horrors lead to dementia and despair Swedish death metal quartet PUTERAEON generate equally atmospheric and bombastic accompaniment worthy of the boiling-black spew and slither of the Shoggoths on this fifth full-length album. Drawing upon the thoughtfully crafted hand of their previous album and reeling it all in for the sake of matching the unreal tone of these Lovecraft penned events ‘Mountains of Madness‘ manages to be a potently entertaining crossing of both aggressive and melodious Scandinavian death traditions. Fueled by bizarre conceptions which additionally characterize each piece and given to dramatically hi-fi render the major boon felt here is split between the considerable thunder applied to their rhythmic interest and the eerily contiguous atmosphere which flows throughout.

Puteraeon formed circa 2008 between folks behind obscure 90’s groups Taetre, Absinth, and Prophanity among others (Nominion, etc.), soon delivering a handful of promising demo releases in a traditional death metal style. The inception of the band came from vocalist/guitarist Jonas Lindblood who had an amusing story about what’d inspired their early material per an early days interview. They’d quickly signed to Cyclone Empire for a number of full-length releases, the first being the celebrated ‘The Esoteric Order‘ (2011), and though they weren’t the first or the best among hundreds of bands aiming for ‘old school’ revivalism in the early 2010’s upheaval they’d caught many ears for a not-so typical sound for a Swedish death metal band at the time. I’ll spare you the usual “those records were just worship” nonsense as most reviews you’ll find never looked past the HM-2 buzz of ‘Cult Cthulhu‘ (2012) and ran with it but you could compare the band’s first three records and their development to Dismember‘s more melodic side, mid-era Fleshcrawl and the similar early path of Revel in Flesh. Much as I like the slower pieces on ‘The Crawling Chaos‘ (2014) I’d no major interest in the band’s work beyond their debut LP and the associated demos, they’d gotten that simpler style most right when underthinking it.

Around the time Puteraeon released ‘The Cthulhian Pulse: Call From The Dead City‘ in 2020 I’d been playing The Sinking City extensively (perhaps due to the pandemia of the time) and I’d associated that concept album’s immersive qualities with the game’s own pit of intrigue. It was an upgrade in most respects. For the band it was maybe a closer strike to their earlier intent, something with a bit more of a melodic centre point and a sound given to the capable hands of Dan Swanö for its render, making for a not-so typical feeling with the atmosphere that’d been lacking in their work since ‘The Esoteric Order‘. From my point of view fourth LP put things into perspective that the first album was unexpectedly received, the next two just kind of happened and over time, and they’d decided to put more time and care into future works to make sure they counted. I feel like this thought holds up well sitting with ‘Mountains of Madness‘ five years beyond their last record, finding it even more of their own thing.

We know these folks have the big guitar tone figured out, the album sounds great in terms of representing each instrument in the big, thunderous cinematic sense… that’d been the revelation of the previous record. For ‘Mountains of Madness‘ the *cinema* is once again lit and luxurious in its depth as we ride into intro/opener “Miskatonic Expedition” feeling the blizzard blur of the guitar layers via a jam that flexes all levels, introduces some melodic and semi-dissonant chords slung amidst one of the better bass guitar bumps I’ve heard in a while. The rhythm section is cave-set, at the mouth of a growling portal and stamping amidst the spongey warp of the main rhythm guitar movement. Landing within the (later) Bolt Thrower-esque roll of opener “The Land of Cold Eternal Winter” as it kicks off feels a bit like a prog-death level of immerse right away, a thickened atmosphere (a la earlier Sulphur Aeon) which is easily sliced through by melodic leads and such even if we’re still only just arriving upon the scene Puteraeon are setting. If you were a fan of Bodyfarm‘s ‘Ultimate Abomination‘ you’ll likely appreciate this sound/style right of the bat.

We’re closer to the quintessential directness of Puteraeon with “Remnants”, a semi-melodic death metal piece which stages its neatly set melodic progression via breaks into blasted-at sections. Not an unheard-of sound in terms of Swedish death metal and not a blinding technical feat but a proper showing of this type of death metal writ for two guitars. The result is tuneful and has a grand sense of movement and atmosphere which carries through even as the band amp up to their most confrontational grooves. You can feel the “festival metal” attributes kicking in on this song, too, as the many-layered vocals start up and the whole deal can’t seem to simmer back down below “cranking it to ten” but this was the song that’d suggested this album might have more to it, with some emphasis put on the atmospheric break taken around ~2:05 minutes in.

I don’t know if it is my favorite song on ‘Mountains of Madness‘ but the almost grinding, or, blackened estranged step into “Horror on the Antarctic Plateau” kinda fits the part of the story depicted, pulling the ear deeper into the intrigue of the story being told while asserting that this is still a death metal record. Every song thus far has some manner of distinction in mind and even if that only means some odd pitch-shifted vocals or a melodic lead. The strongest piece on the album for my own taste is “The Nameless City” thanks to its circling leads, the clangorous and growling low end of the bass guitar, and use of a variety of vocal approaches all make for a true centerpiece on ‘Mountains of Madness‘. It isn’t necessarily the most damaging ear-worm of all time but a good enough reason to return to this record and experience the build up to that point upon return. I’d appreciated the way that Side A was entirely considered, constructed to not only illustrate the narrative/concept of the album in an eventful way but with some relation threaded between those five songs and their compositions.

So, where are the riffs then? I didn’t feel like Puteraeon really go in for the kill until “The Rise of Shoggoths” which features a verse riff that recalls mid-90’s Benediction/Obituary level grooves, not full on ‘The Dreams You Dream‘ level chunking but not far either as it hits. While that is the big moment on this song it isn’t the most interesting, nor is the punkish crack into it around ~3 minutes in but rather what develops beyond that moment ~3:31 where a sort of A Canorous Quintet feeling moment builds from dual guitar harmonization and blurs in and out of focus with some dissonance curving its trajectory. I’m not even sure what’d happened there in terms of intent versus result but it is easily the most compelling bit of craft on this album in terms of the band’s guitar work.

From my point of view “Watchers at the Abyss” is the grand finale equal in spectacle to “Remnants” and ambitious as “The Nameless City” as Puteraeon once again incorporate some clean vocals and something a bit more dizzying in terms of riffs. Their work on this song strafes its simpler chugging verses with some of their strongest melodic guitar work, a jogging and head-bobbing descent which builds up toward those clean vocal-tipped phrases with an almost neo-classic stretch to the leads toward the end of the piece. This song acts as the greater peak of the full listen, the most memorable destination on their journey into madness and closer “I Am the Darkness” extends that sensation with a more direct melodic death metal piece. I’d enjoyed the sensation of increasingly aggressive -and- melodic movements accompanying the surreal endpoint of the narrative here, not only does it fit but it makes for a record which ramps up towards the end rather than petering out into dregs and leftover ideas.

Though the hifalutin production values applied to ‘Mountains of Madness‘ won’t be for every death metal fan they suit the semi-melodic directive of Puteraeon‘s work without escaping the realm of distinctly Swedish death metal style. Rather than trading impact for atmosphere there is an appreciable balance achieved here that feels entirely appropriate for the classic Lovecraft story being tributed within, an experience where the lingering unknown persists despite any amount of knowledge gained. While I’d felt the band’s previous album had all of this figured out for the most part here it all flows together in relation, finds a point of focus and lends intensity to the story with its action. Again the real successes of this record is the atmospheric clime embodied and the attention to detail paid to their work in general… but for my own taste it really came down to the band’s balance of aggressive death metal with melodic guitar work. A high recommendation.

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