Short introduction: Vertebrae Fetish Totem is the name of one of the many projects that involves Jared Moran aka Plaguehammer. As close member within the Centipede Abyss community, it is not a miracle at all to see that this newest Vertebrae Fetish Totem album gets released by Centipede Abyss once more, just like the former releases (Cult, Alchemy and Rituals).
Short notification about the release itself: extremely limited, once again (twenty-seven physical copies only, never to be reprinted again!), and coming with very fine cover artwork, deeply inspired by Gustave Doré’s L’Énigme. Duration: 32 minutes and something…
Short review too, to vindicate both former paragraphs…
In that which holds no skepticism; that which is celestial shall be chthonic; that which lay in ruin is born anew…
Transmogrification (which means something like a theatrical, explicit, often ironic modification in shape or form(at), or a metaphorically remarkable transformation of a physical thing, living things included) is an ugly experience once more, like the personification of a rabid beast, a frantic animal that lacerates and mangles just for fun. Through morbid riffing, slasher drum patterns, down-tuned strings and the most disgusting, vile throat, the whole anti-adventure results in an intolerant experience, at the same time defiling, yet sort of arousing too.
It’s the change in tempo, for example, that makes Transmogrification so attractive. The one moment, the heaviest doom overwhelms, through slow yet vile, even vulgar, force; even during its slowest moments, this album sickens and acidifies. Ah, those sweet string-leads, modest yet prominent, cutting deep wounds through those sluggish fragments… Then again some segments suddenly blast, like an unforeseen volcano eruption, covering the listener in sulfuric brume and scorching lava.
And so that which is malevolent becomes divine…
The album comes with a sound quality that, well, let’s be honest, it’s dismal. Low-tuned, unpolished, rough-edged and brute. Oh, it truly does fit to the whole, it does alleviate (or not) the massiveness that defines this product of sonic dread. Imagine a purified production, and the message, the concept, the attitude would perish in pathetic boredom. Luckily the artist did desire to have this recording rather unspoiled and primal, which is the most acceptable result!
Carried by the wind, Nourished by Earth and changed by Fire... euphoric and grotesque.
Don’t expect some reinvention of the wheel. Just like the former efforts, Transmogrification does not explore the most progressive territories of the aural spectrum. Yet still, there are remarkable own-faced elements. The Old School attitude acts like the spine behind this opera, yet within the details one can unveil typifying twists and specific characteristics that distinguishes oneself from the known. It’s not only the aforementioned vocal timbre, the distinctive drum parts, or the sweetly-sadistic strings, amongst others, that put this project in a previously unexplored niche. It’s more about subtle details too, like a hint of epicism in Ritualistic Order, or that dense, ruin-like atmosphere in Isolated Hostility.
Recommended if you endure the likes of Tetragrammacide, Teitanblood, Void Meditation Cult or Antediluvian, or the likes of Archgoat at half-speed, Beherit, sadly defunct Funeral Of God or Incantation…
https://centipedeabyss.bandcamp.com/album/transmogrification
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/vertebrae-fetish-totem