optisailor2002
Finally, after 5 years of releasing nothing but EPs and demos, Canada's Antediluvian releases their debut full length album, Through the Cervix of Hawaah. Last year's compilation album, Watcher's Reign managed to capture my attention with their extremely raw take on black/death metal, leaving me craving for more and anticipating for new material from the band. The release of Through the Cervix of Hawaah then finally feeds my craving from this destructive Canadian band.
Opening track Rephiam Sceptre... sounds almost as if the band has decided to take a different approach to their songwriting, with a lead guitar line that reminds listeners more of Norwegian-styled black metal rather than the Canadian style of bestial black/death metal that the band has been known for thus far, with the track ending with an almost epic guitar line, sounding like what bands like Watain would write instead of a band like Antediluvian. Fortunately though, as ...Through the Cervix of Hawaah begins, this is brutal and extremely bestial black/death metal as we know the band. The change (and personally, the improvement) of the production quality is immediately noticeable and will also make the album more enjoyable throughout, compared to the demo-quality production that previous Antediluvian releases have.
As the album progresses, the similarity to bands such as Portal becomes more and more obvious, with the album sounding like a Portal album with a more bass-heavy production. The heavy and dark atmosphere is also reminiscent of bands such as Vasaeleth and Grave Miasma. The buzzing guitar tone is abrasive, and the vocals of Haasiophis and Nabucodnosor are tortured, and sees them alternating between low, gurgled growls and higher pitched shrieks, increasing the level of insanity in the music. Like on Watcher's Reign as well, the drumming is also one of the charming aspects of the album, with Mars' drumming being one of the things that initially captivated me.
The band on Through the Cervix of Hawaah also experiments with new songwriting styles, with songs like Intuitus Mortuus providing some of the slowest moments of Antediluvian, focussing instead of the dark and haunting atmosphere on the track, on top of the usual faster numbers that are familiar to listeners, providing some variation in the band's music compared to their Canadian counterparts. Things like the inhuman scream on Erect Reflection (Abyss of Organic Matter) causes the listeners skin to crawl as well. The higher level of technicality in the band's music also sets them apart from other similar acts, with songs like Scions of Ha Nachash providing listeners with riffing patterns that are not typical in other similarly raw and primitive acts, though it does take some effort in order to hear these elements beneath the chaos that runs above.
The tightness of the band is obvious on Through the Cervix of Hawaah, and the album also displays a marked growth in the band's abilities in songwriting and as musicians, making this album being one that contains some of the best material that Antediluvian has released so far.
Originally written for http://www.heavymetaltribune.com/