An echoic, flame-spitting chasm acts as a reverberation chamber for New Jersey/Washington D.C.-based death metal duo KONTUSION as their grinding punk infused debut full-length album reflects upon the darkening skies ahead for humanity with fantastical, morbid ideas and a blunt illustrative hand. Carrying its own muse upon the violent, death-driven nature of the species ‘Insatiable Lust for Death‘ explores the insanity of chaotic times where all is driven over the edge and burnt down to Hell. In the process of nurturing their own muscle memory for primitive death noise and high-energy metalpunk these folks’ve created an experience which is simple yet effective in its conjure of fuming action.

Kontusion formed at some point prior to 2022 between vocalist/guitarist Mark Bronzino who is best known for his time in crossover/thrash groups Iron Reagan and ANS alongside drummer Chris Moore from powerviolence / grindcore crews Coke Bust, Disciples of Christ and Magrudergrind. This band appears to be a take on their own vision of metalpunk inspired ‘old school’ death metal after those two founding members gigged with similarly inspired death metal bands over the last several years, carrying Repulsion and Mammoth Grinder digs on their resumes. So, if you’re already rolling your eyes thinking this’ll just be another beatdown hardcore band with death metal artwork and zero riffs you’re a bit off the mark. Theirs is a primitive and noisome take for sure but something more squarely rooted in the energetic command of metalpunk as suggested by the band’s wild-ass demo (‘Kontusion‘, 2022) which I’d given short review nearby its release. Fronted by radioactive death noise, given to cavernous chaotic sounds and lit by horror synths that tape was a cool way to introduce a band but it’d also read kinda fly-by-night, a quick and dirty side gig at a glance.

I’m not sure if ‘Insatiable Lust for Death‘ goes all that much deeper with that basic idea but Kontusion have refined it, steering things more clearly into a quick and grinding death metal headspace while cutting some (not all) of the feedback-whipping horror noise of that first demo. As we crack into opener “Endless Horror” they’ve gone straight for the riff within seconds and this time around Bronzino‘s vocals are far more direct and imposing out the gates, offering a considerable improvement over the uncertain drowned cough prior. I particularly enjoyed the cacophonic vocal treatment and galloping triplet-chugging movement that hits around ~1:32 minutes in, though it left me wanting more of that sort of textural features to break things up overall. Most of the pieces on this album follow suit in terms of length and uncomplicated statement, rolling fast and developing some manner of texture or clobbering push before cutting it off and moving on. You’ll get the general motor noise and cavernous-shot momentum of the record within the first couple of songs and the rest of spin should blaze past from there.

Though I emphasized how much I’d liked the band’s use of synth per the intro and outro to their demo here on ‘Insatiable Lust for Death‘ Kontusion‘ve instead opted to integrate them into I believe just two songs here, “Incarnate” b/w “Hemorrhage”, both offering a light touch meant to accentuate a bridge or transitional moment. Instead of leaning in that direction most of the standout pieces here have a frantic early Bolt Thrower hail to their movement, particularly “Throne of Skulls” which features some of my favorite barreling action on the album. The middle portion of the album reaches as far as it can in finding some manner of moshable percussive drive beyond the ‘Leprosy‘-speed vault elsewhere and this is where the band kinda lose me via songs like “Subjugation“. It is all relative, though, as the duo go on generating interest within simple, brutally applied riffs; The pure heat of the record thaws a bit after the first twenty or so minutes as Kontusion finish the thought early and tack on a few average, less standout songs at the end. The bonus The Shitlickers cover isn’t available to me and the title track (“Insatiable Lust for Death”) they’ve reserved for a Decibel flexi-disc isn’t either, but I figure all of that taken in together probably amounts to a slightly more satisfying listening experience which is also closer to a “full” length.

While broadly varietal death metal form isn’t the focus of this burn-one-and-nuke-it type record there are plenty enough notable moments here which offer spectacle beyond pure sound design or implication of stylistic fusion. The adrenaline of Kontusion‘s roll through will naturally sustain those inclined, myself included, as I’d found their hardcore punk and ‘old school’ death metal inflected ride enjoyable without expecting a deep or statement-driven listening experience. They’ve done a fine job of delivering upon the promise of thier demo while expanding the riff count and generally holding onto that core assault to great effect while leaving plenty of room to iterate on this idea. While I don’t think this one will stick in mind forever sans more than a few choice cuts it is a record I could hang with anytime and appreciate for its punkish revision of classic death metal sounds. A moderately high recommendation.

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