DarkSoul VII review

Here we have a real head-fuck of a demo... brutal blasting death metal with
crazy polyrhythmic (programmed)drums and some intricate wacky guitar
melodies that segue all over the place, sometimes totally wandering offtime
and abandoning rational thought (pharmaceuticals of some sort are
recommended as accompaniment for optimum listening here). The vocals
are gruff and intense, and the lyrics are of a dark, personal and intellectual
nature, unlike the common death metal fare. Now as I said, this is avante-
garde, experimental shit and has some kinks in it, but the moments where it
melds with melodicism and furiosity, it really (darkly) shines. For instance,
the spacey guitar solo on 'Picture' (1:40) soars on numbingly, creating a
time-altering trance which is joined eventually by a ponderous bassline and
then suddenly shattered by a crushing sludge of distortion and sick growled
vocals, real horrorshow.

There are elements of deathgrind, doom and softer prog-rock here, so those
into Pelican or The Fucking Champs' type of material should get into this
much easier than the mainstream listeners out there. The closing
track, 'Dust' brings things to a head really promisingly, with some of the best
drum-work on the album (it sounds a little hollow on the first track) and the
wandering electric-acoustic guitars trickling out at the end, with the cd
clocking out at just a couple ticks under 25 minutes, my biggest complaint is
that there isn't more to dig into here. Best results should be achieved with
some headphones set on repeat while you're alone with some fine herb, or
whatever you're into... turn the lights down, shut the world outside and trip
out to some evil shit. Check out the band's page for updates and order-info.