To find your sound in the depths of experimentalism no matter how slight it might be is to find yourself in truly unpredictable waters. That’s the very nature of what it means to be experimental, and we live in an age where that concept is taken to lengths heretofore unseen with the advent of our digital lives accelerating that phenomenon. Having already put forth many admirable records in and beyond the realm of death metal, the power of Plague Rider has never been something to underestimate. However, time has seen them move towards a sound that is as organic and it is hostile in its impenetrable experimental nature. With their latest effort, Plague Throat finds itself deeper in that chasm than ever before.
Given what these musicians have accomplished across several bands of immense renown over the years, the very concept of Plague Rider becoming a primarily experimental act that seeks to twist the very fabric of what it means to be death metal is something that sends the deepest of shivers down my spine in anticipation. Having already proven themselves as a collective made up of masters of death metal, what reason is there to not explore the very fringes of what’s possible in the sound? That seems to be the very goal of “Intensities” with the seven tracks of this effort of the sort that could effortlessly give unyielding nightmares to those who aren’t ready and willing to find themselves within the ever-morphing darkness that Plague Rider inhabits for the whole of the record. Unsettling and tormenting in the best way possible, “Intensities” more than lives up to its name! There is hardly a single moment in this onslaught that’s spared to offer any sort of reprieve for the listener with the very presence of the record going far beyond carnivorous with the nature of it all putting off an air of never-ending hunger where once Plague Rider has consumed all in existence before its path, the entity then turns upon itself in a bid to sate is fruitless efforts for true satisfaction. Flames follow where this act goes to make “Intensities” ferocious from the very beginning and nigh-on haunting well after the 12-minute finale comes to a close.
No one will be left unaffected by the pestilence and horrors that come when Plague Rider comes around with this album showing us at every turn that this is the band’s most potent work to date by a wide margin. This is just the beginning of what it means to be daring and experimental in the world of death metal without a shred of compromise. Nothing was left off the table in the crafting of this massively vicious creation that takes its very title to heart. “Intensities” is not something for the uninitiated whatsoever, and those who find themselves daring to deliver such madness will come before a body of work that very few others could ever hope to compare themselves to.
“Intensities” releases on November 10th via Transcending Obscurity Records!
LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Intensities” on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Plague Rider on Facebook here.
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