Borne of melancholic exasperation and manifested in disgusted uproar Edmonton, Alberta-based death/doom metal duo ANTHRODYNIA stare through the face of human nature and into the death-driven abyss on this well-realized debut full-length album. Conjured with death and doom old-and-new as key inspiration ‘Unspeakable Horrors Emanating From Within‘ admirably leads with the riff here, allowing the atmospheric value of their creation to seep in around the edges. The greater effect of their work is primarily rooted in the last twenty years of atmospheric death metal and death/doom ensuring their take will pique the ears of purists seeking well-considered, serious enough sub-genre craft.

Anthrodynia formed in recent years between guitarist/vocalist Derek Orthner (Begrime Exemious, Azath) and drummer/bassist Durell Smith (ex-Falsehood) for the sake of creating their own death-doom metal inspired current. Orthner takes charge here for the most part providing the layout, engineering, mixing and general production duties (master comes via Brad Boatright @ Audiosiege) and as such this debut speaks to his ideation most readily. The duo’s main points of inspiration cited are fairly modern ‘old school’ inspired groups including Spectral Voice and Mortiferum though the harsher spectrum of 90’s sludge/doom metal groups such as Grief and Corrupted are also provided as reference. This should naturally point your expectations toward a surreal Incantation-esque sound in general, especially via opener “Severed From Mundanity”, though they’re aiming for something more far-out and exaggerative than that might suggest without fully taking things to an ‘Antithesis of Light‘ level of funereal dread.

Five songs and roughly forty minutes of music means most all of these songs breach the ~8-9 minute range in length and limit their attack to a deliberately chunked jog through doom metal riffcraft, most of the time. Rather than focus entirely on atmosphere these pieces are almost explicitly all about the riff and the possibilities each thread explores. In this sense Anthrodynia do well to represent the focused compositional fortitudes of classic death/doom metal of the 90’s without any melodic, gothic, or funeral doom affectation. In fact as they rip through aforementioned opener “Severed From Mundanity” you might think you’ve accidentally put on a late 2000’s caverncore record per its scaling tremolo-picked riffs in tectonic shift as the duo generate a sound which is a bit more atmospheric than something like Funerus but not as adventurous as more recent Krypts. There is much more doom to come, though I’d appreciated they lead with an engaging death metal song up front.

“Engulfed in Grief” is probably the best showcase of Anthrodynia‘s general ouevre, giving the listener the full effect of their ideation starting with an atmospheric clean guitar opening, heavier chunking doom metal riffs, and an eventual spastic burst of death metal aggression (around ~5 minutes in) to jump-start its final third. For my own taste this is some of the more studied (actual) doom metal riffcraft on the album and not that far in effect from some of the stuff elite bands like Cryptic Brood are known for even if the production values speak more to the Disma-enjoyer ear. At this point those first two songs feature the roar of the guitar tone as the major feature of ‘Unspeakable Horrors Emanating From Within‘, an overdrive caked burn that acts as the guide through both sauntering and driving movements. We hear the same pedals/DSPs from so many death metal bands by default anymore that this rhythm tone feels purposely crafted and admirably up front in its feature.

Fans of more recent Spectral Voice will appreciate the mostly instrumental corridor served on “Cathartic Dissemination” as one of the more atmospherically stoked songs on offer, featuring some well-hidden synth and at least one distantly-set chant around ~2:44 minutes into the piece. I suppose one could view the song as filler compared to the more riff-oriented streak the album serves but I’d appreciated the break from the at-times repetitious movements of the first two songs. For your patience an estranged death metal song, the shortest on the album, arrives via “A Rotten Sun” as Anthrodynia do well to show a decent range within their action. Around this point in the full listen it becomes most obvious that the album lacks any serious lead guitar interest though closer “Suffering Pure Light” whips out a pretty solid lick or three in approach of its mid-point. In fact it might be the best song on the album overall for my own taste and could’ve just as well been the opener here in terms of showing what the band can do up front, though it serves as a high point to end the album on.

‘Unspeakable Horrors Emanating From Within‘ might appear somewhat tentative in terms of its length but the material itself is well-founded, production values are ideal, and the band’ve done a decent job ensuring all pieces are seated together in relation. Though the running order is slightly askew, and I don’t fully get the prime mid-album real estate given to “Cathartic Dissemination”, Anthrodynia have ultimately done a fantastic job of introducing themselves as a serious project with this debut. A moderately high recommendation.

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