(written by Islander)
In this strange in-between period of days separating one holiday and another, between the final gasps of the Old Year and the first whimpers of the New One, we still have a few premieres to share with you. This one, in particular, will make it even easier to lose track of what day it is… and whatever else your confused minds might have been pondering.
The Atlanta death metal band Metaphobic weren’t playing games when they named their debut album Deranged Excruciations. They were being brutally forthright about the nature of the music they made, as you shall learn for yourselves when you listen to this first advance track from the album — “Spectral Circle” — a couple months before the album release by Everlasting Spew.
Photography by Jeri Mize (Vizions of Mize)
Metaphobic waste no time hurling listeners into a swarm of maddened, malignant, and mutilating riffage, filthy in tone. They back that with equally malicious bass-lines and the kind of drumming that both fires like weaponry and rhythmically chops with an ax, working to get your head off your shoulders.
Haughty growls vomit the words from belly depths and howl them like a big mastiff hungry for jugular blood. The rhythm section also ruthlessly smash, and the riffing feverishly skitters, writhes, and whines. True to the song’s name, the lead guitar also spirals like a specter freed from its tomb.
The band don’t stent on the riffage, morphing it into sensations of gruesome lurching and crazed feeding, infiltrated by lead-guitar spasms, anchored by neck-wrecking beats, and coupled with utterly ghastly vocal expulsions.
Yes, it’s deranged, excruciating, and spectral, and it’s also a hook-filled beast that quickly becomes addictive. No wonder Everlasting Spew got hooked on this monstrous thriller.
METAPHOBIC is:
Danny Dasher – Vocals
Peter Lai – Guitar
Shawn Staszko – Lead Guitar
Dan Ratanasit – Bass & Backing Vocals
Nathan McKinney – Drums
Deranged Excruciations was recorded, and mastered by Alex Parra at Second Sight Sound in Atlanta. It’s adorned by the chilling cover art of Jon Zig, with layout by Justin Stubbs.
On February 28th Everlasting Spew will release the album on CD, cassette tape, and digital formats, and they expect a vinyl edition will be available in the summer of 2025. They recommend the album for fans of Monstrosity, Demilich, Faceless Burial, and early Gorguts.
PRE-ORDER:
Digital: https://everlastingspew.bandcamp.com/album/deranged-excruciations
Physical: https://www.everlastingspew.com
METAPHOBIC:
https://www.facebook.com/Metaphobic.atl