Hailing from New Zealand, and with current and former members of e.g. The House Of Capricorn, Abystic Ritual and Ulcerate, Creeping return with their third full length, after almost five years of silence. Revenant gets released on both vinyl via Iron Bonehead Productions (they will release the stuff as well the digital way) and on compact disc via Daemon Worship Productions. The recording consists of five pieces, which have a total running time of half an hour (about thirty two minutes, to be more specific).
The trio brings a very haunting, morbid and creepy (read: creeping), yet at the same time extremely melodic mixture of (old schooled) Death Metal, Doom-Death Metal and Post-Black Metal. There is, as counterbalance to the highly melodic play, quite a dissonant execution, which drenches the whole in a mostly uncomfortable fog. Together with the colossal, monolithic sound production (courtesy of Abystic Ritual / Ulcerate-colleague Jamie Saint Merat) and the ultra-heavy performance, the result suffocates and hurts (the pleasant way, evidently!).
A surplus is the variation, going for the speed, the structures, and the additional elements, which include Post-Metal moments, droning passages, bleak-blackened excerpts and blasting outbursts. But above all, throughout the whole sonic experience, there is not one single moment of dullness. Revenant drags and draws, leaving no room for mental rest. But who needs rest, when you can enjoy such high quality of sonic brain-terror? Indeed, that’s what I mean.
In general there is not that much technical excellence, yet rather a simple / simplistic compositional and executional thing going on. Some purists will adore this, other spurn and despise. But that’s maybe this band’s strength. This material does not need to be injected with progressive twists; the discordant riffs and basically powerful rhythm section (and do not forget that gurgling throat!) are the essential identification of this band’s existence. That’s their strength, so be it!