Reviews: Hooded Menace, Undersave, Heathe, Vulnificus (Martin Brown, Mark Young, Spike, GC)

Hooded Menace – Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration (Season Of Mist) [Martin Brown]

Finnish death-doom stalwarts Hooded Menace return with their seventh full-length, Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration, and it’s a monster. For a band that could easily have settled into repetition after nearly twenty years, they’ve gone the other way—embracing gothic melodies, eerie synths and even cello passages while keeping that unmistakable crushing weight that defines them.

Twilight Passages opens with shimmering keys that feel lifted from a haunted ’80s dream before Pale Masquerade stomps into view with trademark Pyykkö riffs, grim yet oddly grand. Portrait Without A Face is one of the best things they’ve ever written—melancholy leads, funereal pacing and a beautifully integrated cello that deepens the gloom. Daughters Of Lingering Pain and Lugubrious Dance hit that sweet spot between death and doom, while Save A Prayer turns the Duran Duran hit into a morose, atmospheric lament that somehow works perfectly. Closer Into Haunted Oblivion ties it all together in slow, grandiose and cinematic decay.

Production is clear but still thick enough to feel oppressive. The guitars chug with definition. The drums punch through instead of sinking into the murk. The vocals stay low and menacing throughout, giving the album a unified tone even as the instrumentation stretches further than before. It’s heavy, creative and, despite its darkness, genuinely enjoyable—a doom album that feels alive rather than buried. 9/10

Undersave - Merged In Abstract Perdition (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Mark Young]

A possible contender for the best song titles on an album this year, Merged In Abstract Perdition is Undersave’s latest full-length attack on the senses. If you have heard these before then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Starting with Unshakable And Unlimited Levels Of Obsession, it is a jangling trem picked fury, imagine a box that has been filled with death metal riffola that has been dropped from a tall building. 

Deep, guttural vocals; it's something that tries to do something different with stop/start patterns and guitar lines that try to avoid traditional positions and its difficult to get a handle on this because of that. Its an approach that becomes increasingly noticeable as the album unfolds. 

You need that punch in the face from death metal, especially in it's opening seconds providing you with something that is thrilling to the ear. You need a level of brutality and here they do manage to combine that whilst dropping in some straight-ahead fury. 

There are moments where they are more direct and for me it lands better. Its how they carry that across from track to track, so that on Effervescent Futile Thoughts Of A Phobic Being, for example, that pattern is formed and the jagged/jangling/discord is a part of their sound and how they approach their craft and whilst its not as direct as other exponents of this genre, once you get into it you then appreciate it for what it is. 

Rather than being a constant regurgitation they bring that rattling sound together with the more traditional and as a result you have a song that just cannot stay in one place. Once you get into the later stages, they show that they can drop fury onto you. Forced Retraumatization...Unlocking Spiritual Illumination goes into crawl mode, an unhurried opening that settles down only so slightly, taking time to not get very far. 

Once they get past this initial meander, they kick it in to gear but keep that starting arrangement with a tweak or two. The rattling guitar lines are never far away, as you might expect given what they subjected us to earlier. I don’t think it’s a case of them being too clever for their own good because in most cases it works. 

Fathomless Contempt Nourished By Unrealistic Predictions seems to dial things back and bring the more savage aspects forward in their sound. There is some class old school metal in this one, nestled amongst the speeding drums and pinched harmonics, but I can’t get past that just as they build up a head of speed they suddenly pull back and throw a headscratcher of a riff set at you.

Once we get to Narcissistic Supreme Alienation as their final word, there is an element of relief because frankly I’ve had enough of this. And yet they surprise by pulling out an epic lead/riff breakdown that is just class. The fun on this one doesn’t end there either, emboldened by the lead, the rest picks up with a vital energy which was there on the earlier songs but didn’t register as well as this one. 

Will this appeal to those whose core leanings are for those who remain within the lower registers? Well, possibly. It’s not boring and they delight in being able to write their music the way they do. Everything here is done to suit their own needs forging a path that is unique to them. I’m pretty sure that if they wanted to, they could churn you out good old traditional death metal but it would be a hollow and empty experience. 

I haven’t come across a lot of bands that sit within that ‘dissonant’ part of metal, not many that are able to actually arrange a song so that it actually is a song, not just a collection of jagged shards. What you find here is a solid collection, each one providing a link to the other in terms of consistency. There aren’t any jarring moments but at the same time it needed something a little more direct but again that is personal taste. 

They have everything you want in death metal, its just that you may need to give a listen or two before it starts to really grab, and you should stay to the end because that last track is royal. 7/10

Heathe – Control Your Soul’s Desire For Freedom (Empty Tape/Virkelighedsfjern) [Spike]

On Control Your Soul’s Desire For Freedom, Heathe push themselves into a rare territory: an album that feels less like a collection of songs and more like a grand, immersive piece of sonic architecture. Across six expansive tracks spanning around 64 minutes, they experiment boldly, melding noise, industrial, gospel, jazz, and post-rock into one ominous whole.

From the opening swell of Black Milk Sour Soil, you’re thrust into a world where dissonance and repetition dominate. The opening vocals are uncomfortable, almost painful and coupled with moments of piercing quietness which alternate with crashing layers of sound. Here Heathe show confidence: letting textures wash, letting patience become tension. It’s a statement that this record is as much about space as it is about rupture.

My Gods Destroy is one of the standout moments, layered with syncopated grooves, horn-like blasts, and the occasional choral sweep that feels like it’s rising through the noise. It’s catch-your-breath dramatic without ever losing the weight of the grime beneath. In Valencia’s Next, the band slow things down, allowing motifs to coil and breathe before being assaulted again, the tension stretching and snapping in the speaker space.

The Truth Hurts leans heavy into emotional tension, with instrumentation that pushes and pulls, never allowing stasis. Uproar Taking Shape perks the unease, adding more texture, electronics, atmosphere, noise, that make you feel ungrounded in the best possible way. And then closing with Black As Oil, Heathe let everything collapse. It feels like the weight of the album’s ideas, atmospheres, and emotional spirals all ending in a great exhale of noise and quiet.

What impresses throughout is how the band balance bold ambition with restraint. They’re not throwing every idea at you at once; they let sections dwell, let motifs return, let tension simmer until it must explode. The production retains grit, nothing is overly polished; the distortion, feedback, and rawness remain part of the character. Yet clarity is maintained: you can pick out horns, synths, vocals, percussive layers when you lean in.

This is not background music; it’s music you enter. Heathe have made something strange, haunting, and bold. This might not be an album you might return to casually; it’s one you respect, live with, and watch unfold over time. 7/10

Vulnificus - Inclination (Comatose Music) [GC]

As genres go death metal can be very varied and wide ranging, it has many forms and many inclinations most of which are very good but there are always some that are not very good and ‘’brutal’’ death metal is usually one of those, the very nature of it is just so grating and annoying, its very rare that I find a release that clicks for me so what I am going to make of Inclination by Vulnificus is anyone’s guess really!

Album opener Bacterial Backlash isn’t as bad as I was expecting there is a different type of technicality to what you may usually get and you can actually hear the bass for a change, the drum work is the backbone that carries the track and the vocals are just a level above the usual pig squeals we get BUT its not a very engaging listen and just rumbles along for 6 minutes and never really goes anywhere.

Insurmountable Insurrection is better as its half the length, so there doesn’t feel like there is as much to try and pick apart, it has all the hallmarks, blasting drums, chugging, sludgey guitars with a thundering drum performance but the main issue is it just sounds like one long noise as opposed to an actual song as there is no room for subtlety or variation it’s just y’know? Brutality or nothing which gets tedious very quickly! 

The Internecine Incarnation is a much better track and has a very technical edge to its overall sound, the caveman, knuckle dragging death metal is still there of course but there is some decent variety on show which is very welcome! Intrinsic Inclination follows suit and is another more interesting mix of styles that’s shows, you are allowed to wander off from the rule book sometimes and it will pay off and make things interesting for the listener, which is usually where brutal death metal falls short, interesting songs that keep you wanting more. 

Involuntarily Incapacitated is something no album ever in the history of recorded sounds ever needs, an instrumental, and it is certainly not needed here, sure it shows they can play their instruments and such but it’s just annoying, Malfeasance unfortunately falls into the sounds like one long blurry noise category, its blasts and chugs along capably, but it just lacks the killer edge to really make you enjoy the noise, they don’t flex the technicality here they just throw everything out and it just falls short of being interesting.

Inexplicably Beguiled feels like its holding back a little and this is a positive thing as you can hear what is actually happening and all of the various parts shine a little brighter because of this and it becomes one of the better tracks on the album, you can still be brutal and heavy but also hold back a bit and they show that skill here.

The Infiltration is the slowest track on offer and it adds another way of listening as you once again feel the intention and know that there is definitely more that they could be doing but they don’t need to and it sort of feels like this might be sinking in, less can be more! 

But then just as quickly as they turn a corner Excursus Vulnificus is another track that outstays its welcome and drags on for way too long than is really necessary, the longer the songs last, it feels like they get more boring as it just a lot of repeating the same stuff, this was a perfect example of when to reign it in slightly! I then really can’t be arsed with The Internecine Incarnation which is another instrumental, it claims to be a bonus track but it’s not it’s just an annoying way to end this mixed bag of an album.

Full disclosure, I was ready to absolutely hate this album and rip it to shreds in my review as my opinion on brutal death metal is not very good! Surprisingly I didn’t hate it, there were some very listenable parts to it and of course some I could have just done without in my life but subjectively it was a good enough listen to not get unnecessarily torn apart by this review which was a pleasant surprise! 6/10