An old illness returns with a low-set, knocking crepitus from within the writhing corridors of the gut as the decadelong dormancy of Waltham, Massachusetts-based slamming brutal death metal quartet DYSENTERY ends as they slither from their pods readied to agitate per this fourth full-length album. Without a doubt their fifty-fifty ratio of slam and brutal death now leans heaviest toward the former but that doesn’t stop ‘Dejection Chrysalis‘ from entertaining as a slow-burnt mosher with riffcraft set as its core purpose. I don’t know if it’ll be the album to convert the ‘ready decided anti-slam among us but it is a monstrous enough corridor of pulverization to impress the average brutal death metal enjoyer.

Dysentery formed as a grinding brutal death metal band back in 2002 and while I’d never heard their first demo disc (‘Slaughtered Remnants‘, 2003) I’d understood why Amputated Veins picked them up back in the day as a coherently presented brutal death crew who could hang with a midpaced roll. If you are an early days YouTube idiot like me you might recall this was the band that did a split with Kevin Frasard‘s Gutrot back in the day, at least that is how I’d known them for several years through folks talking shit online. Think of those first five years formative as only the original vocalist Will Caruso remained by the time they’d managed a full-length (‘From Past Suffering Comes New Flesh‘, 2008). It was a solid enough album for its time featuring production values which weren’t the usual bass-injected daggering that slam bands were pushing by then. It’d reminded me of Internal Bleeding and Dehumanized with some beatdown influence on offer while it also made sense they were on a roster next to say, Enmity at the time.

The most active period of growth, or, defining action from Dysentery arguably came between that first LP and their second (‘Internal Devastation‘, 2011) where bassist Peter Spinazola (Fit For an Autopsy) took over on guitars and became the main songwriter beside drummer Eric Taranto. It was clear they’d toured further out, pressed their skills more and had a method more clearly defined at that point. More importantly to the listener they were a different kind of slamming brutal death metal band, sure there were bree-vocals and chugging ass breakdowns but it was still death metal in structure and sound. That has generally been their legacy, aiming for a coherent vision of slam infested brutal death, in managing a sound relevant to where they’d started back in the late 2000’s despite having no original members beyond 2014. — None of this history really had anything to do with me checking this record out for review, all credit goes to the album cover from Hidris catching my eye just as it would’ve on a record store shelf and additional thumbs up for the layout designer not picking overtly contrasting colors for the logo and all that.

The opening instrumental jig into gear, “Transference”, makes it pretty clear as to where Dysentery are at ten years removed from their last LP as the extra slugged metallic hardcore bump beneath their brutal death attuned drum sound hits mid-paced and breakdown primed. From that point they don’t flinch once in the process of creating a cavernous, relentlessly crunched out slam record which is defined by its bulging production values and the general pummel-and-shuffle tract that ensues. Their sound doesn’t really spike that part of my brain that’d appreciated Relics of Humanity for similar reasons last year but it does hit like a band that aren’t trying too hard to punch over the head of the brutal-core underground. Most all of the songs included are under three minutes and feature an army of low-slung guitar tones as their blunted instrument of choice though the boon of interest to be found on ‘Dejection Crysalis‘ is the thread of guitar and drum stoked interplay which runs through every vein. “Enslavement for the Obedient, Agony for the Wayward” brings all of these observations into focus but particularly the rhythmic play and the band’s general ability to turn on a dime and keep things moving without sacrificing some manner of readable, song-shaped repetition.

The drop from that second song into “Indignation Unravels” is too slick, and I figure even if you’re not on board with even half of these riffs you have to appreciate the ruthless flow available to ‘Dejection Chrysalis‘ alongside some of the technical skill put into these making these tightly bound movements read as a corridor of grotesquely voiced suffering. With that said this isn’t the type of album you’re picking out a particularly tuneful song or picking your brains for that one catch-ass moment as most of Dysentery‘s focus is on dragging the ear through slower swung and chunked at movement while styling on it with a few notable guest vocalists. The peak of what I can’t really hang with here is probably the dry boned scrub through the final third of “Exhausted Bliss of Self Loathing”, an otherwise great song soiled by one of the most supremely bland riffs I’ve heard from the band to date. On the other hand some of the longer pieces on the album (“Transposed Benevolence”, Ascend This Harrowing Dream”) don’t do anything so wildly different beyond switching it up more often, pivoting faster on their ride through, and those’d held my attention just fine.

The effect created by ‘Dejection Crysalis‘ is almost more important than the note-for-note details applied to it. The experience doesn’t bear the outright self-impressed tone deafness that a ton of slam music wears like a badge and instead Dysentery‘ve created a slow-burning, claustrophobia inducing walk through an anxious hellishly maximal corridor, there is a satisfyingly soul crushing dementia to it which I’d enjoyed within repeated listens. Though it doesn’t entirely charm more classics-leaning taste in pit-bound brutal death on my end there is still a pretty damned entertaining chug through here which I’d consistently enjoyed. A moderately high recommendation.

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