Beats and yelling: Castrator

Coronation of the Grotesque
Out 15^th August on Dark Descent Records

Modern death metal is often guilty of running away from itself. Either gesturing at lofty, pseudo esoteric avant-garde affectations, or else leaning so aggressively into its own cliché that it begins to behave like novelty music. Castrator’s latest offering is something of a breath of fresh air here. Aesthetically unambiguous, yet reserved and confident in this identity to the point that it looks for all the world like subtlety in the current context. The mix is fresh and crisp. Not covered in a dirge of reverb, fuzz, or excessive bass as so many seem to be these days. The riffs are vibrant and intuitive, lifted from the genre’s internal traditions whilst engaging in a dialogue with them. And – whilst not particularly original – it presents a degree of variety and confidence that comes from some experience with the genre.

The production is a work of subtle creativity. Superficially unremarkable, as one gets their teeth into the music one can appreciate the level of detail required to emphasise each performance without overwhelming the mix. The clarity of the bass serves to highlight its interplay with the drums, working as antagonist to the subtle flow of the guitars. The latter of which manages to both dominate the sound with singular muscle, yet somehow creates space and dynamics within this tightly controlled environment. Gruff, energetic vocals serve the aesthetic well, achieving both rhythmic precision and a degree of imposing monstrosity.

Tracks tend to flow with the disjointed, plodding aggression of Suffocation. Staccato punches emphasising peaks and troughs at the end of each sentence. Castrator bookend these broken phrases with linear thrash runs, reacquainting brutal death metal with its roots by diluting the usual rhythmic anomie with a refreshingly paced out gallop. Just as older influences emerge like returning characters placed into new contexts and situations, clear melodic signatures emerge from the atonal rubble, functioning as a near lyrical commentary on the percussive physicality.

There is a clear tension between the old and the new. Playful heavy metal licks are quickly snuffed out by scant but well placed hardcore breakdowns. The direct logic of thrash is split apart by brutal death metal multi-directionality. A tension made all but explicit with album’s closer, a cover of ‘Metal Command’. A decidedly retro thrash number (even by the standards of 1985), whose naïve heavy metalisms obtain a degree of cynicism rendered in this cold, modernist mix.

Perhaps the most unique feature of the album however are the guitar solos (many all too brief) that burst out of the amoral cacophony like jump scares. They boast a unique melodic signature reminiscent of Immolation (in ethos if not tonality). Sara Loerlein, as Castrator’s newest recruit, has instantly proven her worth here with the singular voice she uses to decorate these moments, elevating material that at times threatens to drift into the forgettable.

‘Coronation of the Grotesque’ is a refreshing restatement of what I suppose we should now call “traditional” brutal death metal. One that retains the lurching, bipolar chaos of the genre at its most extravagant, but connects this back to a thrash and even heavy metal coherence, lifted into the esoteric by the unique melodic signature of the guitar leads painted atop the framework.