It’s from the seething, flesh-coated floor of the underground that death metal is always at home no matter how good it is or how welcoming it can seem from one band to the next, and there are rarely works that capture the raw nature of it all as well as what can be found within demos. Those are what fledgling names start to throw their weight, and it’s more than common to see that sound become refined as a band moves on. When it comes to Marasmus and their performance with this forthcoming effort from Hell, you could’ve told me it was a demo and I would’ve likely believed you from how the absolute entirety of “Necrotic Overlord” feels right out of the fucking gate.
Typically, there’s a certainly clean aspect to upgrading your sound from a demo to what can be done in the studio with an extremely raw and uncouth production being more appreciated by those looking for “atmosphere”. As I walked through the flesh-wreathed halls that feel like they’re ripped straight from the imagination of Clive Barker, Marasmus makes an impact that shows us that they’re not just another riff machine to deliver us death metal that we can get sink our teeth into (as if that’s ever a bad thing) but a true barrage of splintered bone, rotten hedonism, and everything that death metal fans are constantly salivating for as each and every piece that’s to be found within “Necrotic Overlord” showing us what these barons of a steam-cloaked, miserable death are capable of. And don’t let my initial impulse to pair this creation to a demo in that it’s an unmitigated display that has no proper form with the devastation being all but random and uncalculated. Rather, Marasmus shows us instantly how terrifying they are for their extreme power is only matched by their genius in how they deliver these soul-hungry riffs in a vehicle of melting skin and boiling blood that’s so shocking to witness that any proper fan of the style would never dare wretch themselves away from, and it is through these occult rituals of apex debauchery that we can clearly see the grotesque majesty of all that “Necrotic Overlord” is. There is undeniable power in what’s done here in a way that doesn’t set itself apart from death metal in its intensity or performance, but, instead, its ferocity and militaristic efficiency to deliver agonizing pain to all life in sight without exception is the essence of what Marasmus set out to achieve with the ten acts of unfathomable horror being the blood-drenched fruit of “Necrotic Overlord” being all too sweet to resist.
Death metal will never be lacking when it comes to bands whose attitudes and power are undeniable in how strong it all is, but there’s something special about what Marasmus has done here that hits differently as though they were going for that messy decapitation that may not succeed out of a sadistic desire for suffering whereas others would make a clean cut that ends the gore all the faster. But, if there’s any single thing to be taken after listening to “Necrotic Overlord” it’s that there is not a single prisoner to be had when the effort comes to a close, and it is then that Marasmus reigns supreme to show us why they’re to be feared with everything about this record being just what so many of us are always hungering for.
“Necrotic Overlord” releases on March 26th via Transcending Obscurity Records!
LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Necrotic Overlord” on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Marasmus on Facebook here.
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