Raining down rotten, venom clotted blood from their noxious altar of defiance on sight the abyss-hounding hailfire of Moscow, Russia-based black/death metal trio THANATOMASS appears as hideous and violent necromantic sorcery on this latest EP release. Manifested as a three part primal howl from below ‘The Rabid Dead‘ rings in mind as a steeling example of their bestial and thrashing service to the riff continuing to produce elite, shockingly deranged aggression without succumbing to low-brained rhythmic mush. The extent of their work lands as an appreciably putrid strike, a brief but substantial stretch through some of the band’s best material to date.

Thanatomass have threatened the populace for roughly ten years, forming around ~2015 as a thrashing bestial death abomination before ramping their rabidity through a series of EP releases beyond. You’ll recall I’d written a fairly extensive review of their debut LP (‘Hades‘, 2023) detailing the overall transformation of their gig but the gist of it blurs the lines between the thrashing cacophony of Sarcófago, the wrathful black lightning of Katharsis but also the longer form crush of records like ‘Death‘ from Teitanblood where songs stretch toward the ~8-10 minute mark. I’d had nothing but high praise for that record, placing it at #75 on my Top 75 Albums of the Year and describing it as “true bestial devastation with a mind for wrathful, classics inspired riffs.” Today I’d express the same level of praise for this new EP release.

The maniac appeal of Thanatomass‘ work comes first from the blazing throne of riffs they manage across the board, riffcraft which reflects a love of the arcane elder gods of the late 80’s as much as the analog furor of the post-2010 war metallic/bestial death elite. Their attack on ‘The Rabid Dead‘ still reflects this high standard for action, ramping in its shrapnel-spitting clangor over the course of it’s length. Cacophonic yet coherent vocal command atop battery in militant array give diction to their rhythms but up front opener you’ll find roaring opener/title track “The Rabid Dead” most immediately speaks to the band’s density of ideas, making a seven minute slap of a song feel like an entire EP in its own right. That dilation of time and frenzied accost generated is, much like the material on ‘Hades‘, a murderous thrill from every angle.

Beyond the infernally shot bulldoze conjured throughout I think fans of prior Thanatomass stuff will appreciate a slightly more contained render of ‘The Rabid Dead‘ being less hairy and noisome for the sake of catching the rhythm section’s attack in a more cutting state. The pick-scraping, madly thrashing verve at the heart of the band’s signature is only amplified by this kick in fidelity and a strong guitar tone set at skull level does even more damage. The three minute blur of “Flesh Catafalque & The Covenant Semen” and its fast ripping clatter is the best testing ground for their sound design here, amping the horrified corridor depicted. Otherwise the main event is the sprawling ruckus of closer/Side B feature “From Vein into Chalice”, some of the most intense and aggressive riff-after-riff push from these folks to date. There you’ll get the full hundred-hand slapped effect of the band at thier most imposing and inventive.

In fact more imposing and more inventive than ever should suffice as a larger endorsement of not only the whole EP but the evolution of the band in general. ‘The Rabid Dead‘ is the full effect of Thanatomass in an all-crushing twenty minute salvo where all sides of their bestially grinding action are revealed in full noxious glory. There aren’t a shit-ton of bands in this lane that are this well served by serious, brain-scrambling riffcraft at least by my measure and (again) this is the trio at thier best. A very high recommendation.

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