Devised in an era of disarray and bonded over ancient death’s fascination the brain trust of lost souls who’d comprise Berlin, Germany-based quintet TERATOMA return better prepared in their representation of ‘new old school’ temperament per this sophomore full-length album. Driven by hard-set hardcorish bap and a sort of moshing n’ swinging drive ‘Longing Veracity‘ approximates classic death metal sentiment and modern groove obsessed pummel far beyond the detail afforded their debut. Though the riffs aren’t mind-altering craft across the board these folks’ve kept their action heated enough to entertain, and enthrall, the average old dead death metal ‘tuned ear.

Teratoma formed circa plague year MMXX between mostly thrash metal (Reactory, Conflicted) and death metal/hardcore (Hierophant, Skulld) indoctrinated folks who were interestingly enough mostly immigrants from Brazil, Chile and Italy beyond Berlin based members. Some experience in crust and grind manifested within their first public recording (‘Purulent Manifestations‘, 2021) a fairly laid back, hardcorish record which fit into that era of what I like to call “neo-death”, a quasi-old school sound marked by rudimentary rhythmic movements, hardcorish simplicity and a lack of heavy metal informed structure. As that album worked through largely samey ideas it’d developed a sort of hypnotic, cadence that was at its most compelling during its slowed sections (re: “Oceanum Inferni”) but it was not developed enough in voice (or, riffcraft) to stick in mind on my part. I’ll be honest I’d no expectations heading into ‘Longing Veracity‘ for the sake of not remembering the band at all.

What a difference ~4-5 years makes, though, as Teratoma re-emerge having workshopped and assumedly road-tested those ideas into a proper album which bears far more personage, dynamically charged action and rotted-through sounds than before. Still rooted squarely in ‘old school’ death metal adjacent sound design and aesthetics ‘Longing Veracity‘ has the punchier swing of post-‘Primordial Malignity‘ era stuff but this time around they’re not relying so heavily on mid-paced hardcorish chunking. “Ravaged and Absorbed” is probably the best piece to resemble this change up front where deeper set growls, wandering four-count tremolo picked riffs, doomed motioning, and even a few leads all read as far more thoughtful developments than before. I’m not sure this makes up for the blandly moshable metallic hardcore riffs (around ~2:10 minutes) into “Chaotic Bewilderment” before it but each piece which fires up Side A ramps its action into strong momentum.

For the die-hard death metal purist the bigger riff-picture isn’t going to be fully there up front but ‘Longing Veracity‘ is void of neither ouevre nor varietal interest on the walk through its ~45 minute splay. “Perpetual Anguish” is a real smoker in the midst, a song which defaults to the palm-muted chugging swing Teratoma‘d exhausted on the previous album while finding a sort of crossover type build in the first half of the song. Around ~3:05 minutes into the piece they cut into a blasted-at section and a decent guitar solo which turn the song around, or, take it somewhere unexpected before crawling back into the pit. It is a small moment when fixated upon but an interesting wave felt in the context of the full listen nonetheless. As it turns out anytime these folks break from their default mid-paced roll the most compelling details begin to crop up in skull.

Side B finds its pocket easier, faffing about less beyond a strangely placed interludium as both “Circle of Perdition” and the hall-crashing push of “Festering Realm” use sparse lead guitars to help build a bit more of a bridge to their already Bolt Thrower-esque tendencies. There is something to be said for a death metal album that has a cool sound and an energetic rip applied that’d seemed to be full praise to be drawn from my time with ‘Longing Veracity‘ until “Spewing Atrocities” b/w “Stertorous Whisper” hit. The former is probably the best song included here for the trip it takes from tentative dramatic opening toward its increasingly brutal roll through the end and the latter keeps its head down and steamrolls through ’til the end making for a satisfying enough endpoint.

Imposing vocals, a huge-ass guitar sound, and plenty of stampeding energy applied ensure Teratoma‘s second full-length album stands leagues beyond their tentative debut as a solid mid-paced crusher. Where I’ve found ‘Longing Veracity‘ lacking was in the leading details, the riffs, as much of their patternation relies on simpler or rote grooves to loosely sew together each song. Even without any particularly wild knack or loud personality felt at the heart of the experience they’ve yet brought a steamroller to the fray and it makes for an overall entertaining listen and an above-average death metal record. A moderately high recommendation.

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