AN NCS PREMIERE: ENGULFED — “CURSED ETERNITY”

The capacity to create sonic scenes of crazed and cataclysmic conflict, weaponized by technically eye-popping instrumental armaments and urged on by monstrous proclamations — these are among the achievements of the Turkish death metal band Engulfed, whose name encapsulates the experience of being caught and consumed by their ravenous music.

The engulfing savagery and racing technicality of the band’s music would by themselves be enough to put Engulfed on the global map, circled in red, but they also manage to insidiously infiltrate their music with mood-moving atmospherics both grim and grievous.

After only one album and a pair of EPs, Engulfed are already at the point when news of a new release whets appetites for angry and exhilarating music, and a new Engulfed release is what we’ll have on on April 19th when Me Saco Un Ojo and Dark Descent release the band’s second album, Unearthly Litanies of Despair.

So far, one song has erupted from the album, and today we un-cage a second one through our premiere of “Cursed Eternity“.

We’ve already frothed at the mouth over that first single, “In the Abyss of Death’s Obscurity”, calling it “a ruthless assault on the senses” — technically dazzling, maniacally brutish, and laced with squirming, slithering, and screaming guitar machinations that are as chilling as they are unhinged.

Today’s new song is equally berserk, but its opening intersection of methodically bludgeoning bombardments and fretwork feeding frenzies immediately creates an oppressive and hopeless feeling, a feeling enhanced by eerily wailing guitars in the upper reaches of sound.

That introductory phase is a prelude to punishment, a turbocharged attack of horrid roars, obliterating drums, and riffing that’s both deranged (like a nest of spiders on fire) and agonized (like helpless mourners at a mass grave).

But again, Engulfed bring in clanging chords and slithering, moaning melodies that bespeak misery, as well as a darting and wailing solo that sounds tormented — before it explodes in a white-hot spectacle that’s electrifying.

To repeat: There aren’t many bands out there who are operating at Engulfed’s level of ferocity with their level of technical chops, but with such a well-plotted structuring of the mayhem and such significant attention given to interweaving morbid, mournful, and wraith-like melodies.

Unearthly Litanies of Despair will be released by Me Saco Un Ojo on vinyl, CD, and digital formats, and Dark Descent will release it on vinyl, CD, tape, and digital. Pre-orders are available now.

PRE-ORDER:
https://mesacounojo.bandcamp.com/album/unearthly-litanies-of-despair
https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/unearthly-litanies-of-despair

ENGULFED:
https://www.facebook.com/engulfedtr
https://engulfed.bandcamp.com