With two albums behind them, the Costa Rican band Advent of Bedlam are looking ahead to the release of their third full-length, Human Portal Phenomenon, by their new label Horror Pain Gore Death Productions on May 4th. DECIBEL premiered a lyric video for one track (“Olympus Mons”), and another track (“A Human Farm”) is also out in the world. Today we present a third one — “The Ever Watchful Eye“.
The new album comes recommended for fans of Belphegor, Dead Congregation, Hate Eternal, Immolation, Incantation, and Morbid Angel. As those names might suggest, it delivers a brand of death metal that’s ferocious and technically impressive, augmented by progressive instrumental flourishes, flashes of blackened barbarism, and a welcome attention to melody.
photo by Inês Fonseca
Thematically focused on humanity’s steadily encroaching loss of freedom, “The Ever Watchful Eye” is a relentlessly intense track. Everything about it is vicious, from the foul and feverish buzzing and brutish battering of the riffs to the crazed corkscrewing of the leads, from the hideous high-low tandem of Roy Zumbado’s vocals (an unpredictable veering from ravenous roars to frightful shrieks) to the neck-cracking drum rhythms and darting, pummeling bass lines. The music is both cold and combustible. It growls and cruelly grinds, erupts in orgiastic feeding frenzies, punches in pugilistic flurries, hammers and howls.
Displaying a range of technically nimble performances, the track features frequent tempo changes and alterations in instrumental patterns, as well as the alterations of mood hinted at above. But there’s a melodic through-line in the vibrating leads (a bleak, desolate one) that gives the music a unifying core, and staying power in the memory.
On top of all that, the video is also very well executed, meshing with the dark power and powerhouse energy of the music.
photo by David Rodriguez
Human Portal Phenomenon features cover art by Costa Rican artist Isaura Vega, which includes visual elements based on each of the songs. The album was produced at Cavan Studio in Heredia, Costa Rica, by Advent of Bedlam guitarist and producer Max Gutiérrez S. It will be released by HPGD Productions both digitally and on CD.
Below you’ll find pre-order links, plus the previously released lyric video for the “Olympus Mons” and “A Human Farm” — as well as our own premiere of “The Ever Watchful Eye”. Enjoy!
Pre-Order:
http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/store/hpgd168.html
https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/human-portal-phenomenon
Advent of Bedlam:
http://www.adventofbedlam.com/
https://www.facebook.com/adventofbedlam
One Response to “AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ADVENT OF BEDLAM — “THE EVER WATCHFUL EYE””
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That artwork is suburban-refrigerator-magnet-worthy