AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DUNGEON — “INTO THE RUINS”

For those of you who might be experiencing the music of the band Dungeon for the first time today, don’t misunderstand their name: They don’t play dungeon synth or creeping and rotten old school death metal. In fact, you’ll soon discover that they’re somewhere over on the opposite end of a spectrum that might include those other genres.

But surely many of you already know that, because Dungeon (whose members are divided between the UK and Germany) have already made their searing mark through three previous releases whose titles very openly brandish the kind of music they’ve been making: the Unholy Speed Attack demo in 2015, the English Hell demo in 2016, and the Purifying Fire EP in 2018.

Fans have waited five years for Dungeon‘s next audio attack, and today you’ll hear it through our full stream of a new EP named Into the Ruins that’s set for release tomorrow by Dying Victims Productions. Those five years, it turns out, have done nothing to quench the hellfire that burns in their songs.

We’re told that Into the Ruins “was recorded live over a sordid weekend in a damp Berlin bunker” last September. Performing this music obviously must have provided more than enough heat all by itself.

The PR info for the EP also previews that while Dungeon‘s aggressive Venom/Discharge/Priest metalpunk foundation is still present, the band’s berserker energies also “summon Sodom and violent ‘80s thrash as well as Morbid Angel, Mercyful Fate, and Raped Ass-era Anti Cimex, among other aural terrors”.

That gives you a pretty good clue about what’s coming. In a nutshell, what comes is the kind of rampant barbarity that provides a big dose of blazing adrenaline, but with plenty of twists and turns along the way.

Dungeon kick off the show with “Nagasaki Sunrise“, a song whose name provides a vivid clue about its vicious and pernicious impact. The explosive detonation doesn’t happen immediately. The band first start playing with listeners’ minds with a collage of scary sounds, big menacing chords, and a burst of screaming guitar. But then the drums begin firing, the bass savagely punches the guts, the riffing wildly writhes and swarms, and the words get spit with raw and rabid ferocity.

But this opening song also demonstrates that notwithstanding how feral and hellish Dungeon‘s music is, the songwriting is multi-faceted. What happened in Nagasaki was horrific, and so the lead guitar also wails, moans, and quivers in pain and the vocals reach screaming heights of agony above the tumult occurring around them.

Moreover, the band kick into a surge of speed metal riffing that drives the adrenaline levels even higher, and the song also unleashes a solo that’s pure lunacy, as well as sinister riffing that sounds grim and cruel despite its flesh-bubbling heat.

From there Dungeon mainly keep the energy levels (and the ferocity) in the red zone across the remaining four tracks, but they continue to vary what happens in ways that will keep listeners up on their toes, even with heads hammering.

The rhythm section shift gears and patterns in electrifying fashion, with riotous drum fills adding to the thrills. The abundant soloing, shrill and clear, morphs from sounds of rocket-fast flame-broiled delirium to expressions of exotic sorcery and abject misery. The filthy riffing also relentlessly morphs, manifesting sounds of free-wheeling ecstasy, headlong savagery, cold sadistic cruelty, imperious haughtiness, infernal evil, and crushing bleakness.

It’s also true, as previewed above, that these songs intertwine lots of different metal and punk influences across a broad range of decades, which is another crucial factor in why the EP is so damned much fun to hear from start to finish. And the musicians obviously have a lot of top-shelf talent on display in their execution of the songcraft.

Last but certainly not least, we should mention that the songs are packed with hooks — which is to say they’re very infectious — and that emotionally evocative guitar melodies also play a key role. Yes, the music is often hostile and nasty, but it’s also quite effective in spawning different moods.

And with that we’ll let you take some deep breaths and move Into the Ruins on your own:

 

 

Credit for the music goes to vocalist and rhythm guitarist Luke Drew (ex-Ekrixi), guitarist Daragh Markham (Inhuman Nature, Who Cares?), bassist Olivia Airey (Maggot Heart, Raze), and drummer Chris Parker (Venomwolf).

The music was engineered in that bunker by engineer Max Hillebrand (Vasseur, Children), who obviously did a damned good job (along with the band) of capturing the chaotic intensity of a live show.

Dying Victims will release Into the Ruins on CD, 12” vinyl, and cassette tape formats, as well as digitally.

PRE-ORDER:
https://dyingvictims.com/
https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-ruins

FOLLOW DUNGEON:
https://www.facebook.com/DungeonLondon/