No less addled with the bizarre tics of an adrenaline-shaken cutting hand Dublin, Ireland-based death metal quartet MALTHUSIAN continue to wield their own instinctive abstraction as weaponry on this imposing sophomore full-length album. Though ‘The Summoning Bell‘ might appear a shade more normative at face value compared to their dread-and-nihil spouting past works this is a natural side effect of bolstered production values and a few more classic death metal grooves hammering about. The wild brutality and curiously veering furor of their work yet survives on album number two, neither expanding or contracting away from its original purpose. What change has manifested here finds the band ambitiously exploring shades of excess, be it skillful flourish or a more thorough compositional hand, as they continue to present a high standard for surreal yet readable death metal.

Malthusian formed circa 2012 by way of guitarist/vocalist Matt Bree (Verminous Serpent) and drummer Johnny King (Conan, ex-Altar of Plagues) with interest for filling the void of volatility within a doom dominated scene. Their basal shared interest in death metal surrounds the technical obscuration of Immolation and Morbid Angel but at the time atmospheric death metal and post-“caverncore” blackened death was the major conduit as the band found their initial quartet and provided their own take on stuff like Abyssal and Cruciamentum via a monstrous demo tape (‘MMXIII‘, 2013). Longform pieces given to brutality, chaos and a meandering hand for ‘Unholy Cult‘ and ‘Parasignosis‘-esque shaping became their original signature. With their brilliant EP release ‘Below the Hengiform‘ (2015) the quartet became known as notable chaotic death metal abstraction, often compared to Portal at the time for the eruptive rhythmic havoc carried through that record. Those were the major expectations set forth for what the band describe as the first phase of their existence.

While I’d been thrilled with Malthusian‘s debut LP (‘Across Deaths‘, 2018) upon favorable review it’d apparently been less than fun to create. Joyless suffering makes for better deal metal from my point of view, anyhow, and I’d had nothing but praise for the way they’d ramped the dizzying, black-blooded attack of their sound: “The path is never linear and continually twists and lurches forward as ‘Across Deaths’ finds the band increasingly staked in death/doom pacing and edged-along by rhythms that build towards a point of release which rarely comes” and ultimately suggesting they’d realized the original thread woven by the demo and EP. It all made good sense as a listener but it seems the group wanted to rethink, regroup and redefine the path forward. The result was something more contained but no less impactful via a split w/Suffering Hour (‘Time’s Withering Shadow‘, 2022) which I’d likewise reviewed with high praise at the time of release. How much of this should be considered heading into the band’s second LP and the new phase of their existence it represents? I’d pay closest attention to the split LP in preparation for this record, though I don’t generally find ‘The Summoning Bell‘ represents a wild sea-change so much as a tightening back toward their original ideation.

‘The Summoning Bell‘ pulls the reigns back upon the needled, belly-clutching ride of the rhythms on ‘Across Deaths‘ and produces something feasibly more straight-forward in terms of ‘Onward to Golgotha‘-esque muse while retaining Malthusian‘s abstract, atonal and at-times dissonant handle upon the riff. This still very clearly reads in relation to ‘Below the Hengiform‘ while relenting in terms of obscurant, inaccessible motioning which followed. Crisp production values via Greg Chandler at Priory Studio grant unheard-of clarity for the band and allow some much needed space for the bass guitar tone, via new bassist Federico Benini (Akercocke, ex-Unfathomable Ruination), which surprisingly becomes an appreciable feature throughout the album. They still sound like themselves here as the major features of the band’s sound boil down to a blur of inventive riffcraft in hand, Bree‘s now even more imposing death metal roars, and of course this band continues to develop as a showcase for King‘s exceptional talents.

Opening instrumental “Isolation” serves as both an orchestral warm-up and foreboding din set to convey a solitary thought, a presence which reads as demented and readied for the irrational acts which lie ahead. From the anxious ringing chords and rolling fills which introduce the album “Red, Waiting” follows as a lunging and bludgeoning act, about five minutes of estranged and violent hammering at obscure death metal riffcraft which is nauseated and heated in its exchange. While I wouldn’t describe this version of Malthusian as bestial as the one we’d found on ‘Across Deaths‘ there is a certain feral reeling to the leads and hammer applied up front. While this song’s first half is rooted in an exaggeration of auld black/death metal tenets given to chaotic layering and frantic strikes the Immolation-esque destination achieved in nearing the five minute mark is unmistakable. Beyond a full drop into silence, beyond the wriggling of fingers on fretboards, the band flips the switch over to a greyed-out sea of dissonant arpeggiation and doomed riffs, a swaying beast that finds all destinations frayed at the ends. This death-doom metal sluice unto the end should suggest well enough the balance these folks’ve struck on ‘The Summoning Bell‘ where their avant-garde tendencies aren’t necessarily tempered so much as delivered with familiar muse and highly technical movement which is not at all obscured.

There is a jazz fusion-esque rattle and fill-heavy whip applied to the edges of ‘The Summoning Bell‘ (see: “In Chaos, Exult”) which spares the listener outright showmanship for tact, smaller moments which are buried by the more thrilling brutality that often follows. The blast-heavy roar of “Between Dens and Ruins” may be served a full-on drum solo to start yet this becomes one smaller detail, adding to the revving of their greater engine while offering a clear sign that there is some wild skill behind the odd-chunking and pinch harmonic checked beast as it reveals. We also get a different bass guitar tone from the opening piece(s) on this piece, snapping a bit harder and providing weight to the knotted progression found around ~2:30 minutes in. The pacing is otherwise unsure, harried and certainly appropriate for the whammy diving pursuit of the clapped-hard and riff-driven chaos of this piece. There isn’t a moment of rest applied to the chugging and stammering launch of this piece and its escalating erratic progressions. While I could understand if the existing fandom might view Malthusian‘s latest as tempered or typical in some sense via the title track/debut single (“The Summoning Bell“) the first few pieces on the record are yet abstract and unmercifully set with high-density violence.

As a double LP with a fair bit of blank space on Side D, three instrumental tracks, and an odd-set sequence overall the running order makes very little sense in terms of the vinyl experience. That said the order they’ve chosen gives the ear plenty of room to breathe and digest as the second half of this ~54 minutes record rolls on. Setting the title track as the opener for Side B is a bit awkward as “Eroded Into Superstition” offers a more natural opener for the second half while repeating some of the feats found on “Between Dens and Ruins”, including a near full stop in the midst of the song. From the first listen I’d found ‘The Summoning Bell‘ loses a bit too much steam in its uncertain passage onto its general second half and losing its direction on the way out.

“Amongst the Swarms of Vermin” is the piece to rescue the second half of Malthusian‘s latest from the drain for my own taste, a hulking often doomed piece which sprawls unfettered in its development within its 15+ minute stretch. Subtle references to classic death metal at its sludgiest (ah via ‘Gateways to Annihilation‘) while also grasping for Dead Congregation-esque brutality helps keep this this extended song burning with interest on the first several passes; From my point of view these folks’ve long been best suited of longer-form songs in terms of providing an immersive, varied and imposing experience and this is where this new album shines best on a few key pieces. Where its focus blurs a bit comes with ~5-6 minute death metal songs which either feel comparatively underdeveloped or avoidant of their intended straightforward focus. The odd path astray is always taken and as such ‘The Summoning Bell‘ never quite becomes a riff album and instead moreso an experience driven by frantically sourced rhythmic interest within irregularly flowing movement. In this sense they’ve not escaped the greater effect of their earlier work, only approached it in more digestible ratio.

Without the three instrumental pieces included we have a pretty damned solid ~42 minute abstract death metal record in ‘The Summoning Bell‘ yet with them included the full ~hourlong experience feels overwrought per continuous listening. Ambitious yet awkwardly stated with obscured themes that conjure little additional interest there is no certain connection to be made here for the general death metal fandom beyond the thrill of abstracted and violent action. Though the ideas aren’t lacking here the abruptness, challenging volatility and swerving hand of the band slowly saps away as they drone through the overlong full spin and not for any lack of skill, riffs, or sound design but rather the demanding plod of their work. Not all listeners will feel this type of sensorial limit being reached and I figure folks who enjoy digging through the minutiae of abstract death metal musicianship will appreciate what is on offer herein. I particularly enjoyed their lean toward more “traditional” death metal grooves and as such the experience was never lacking for action and carried a few choice moments that’d stuck in mind. We do not ultimately get a rescinded or tamed version of Malthusian on this sophomore LP in fact they might’ve been too ambitious, gloriously impractical in realizing their vision. A high recommendation.

---