Universally relatable and easily sung along to, especially at the chorus. A typical radio friendly unit shifter is only about three minutes long and sticks religiously to the standard verse-chorus formula. Viewed in this light long form extreme metal with harsh vocals can be taken as the antithesis of pop.
The filth that Spectral Voice have pulled from the bowels of their lungs on Sparagmos is the perfect complement to the album’s ghastly death centric thematic and sonic elements. In describing this I’ll forever recall Strong Bad’s observation that death metal lyrics should be screamed “from the bowels of your lungs”. Black metal’s high pitch wailing screams are contrasted with the cavernous lows of death-doom. This is in addition to the tonal or sonic qualities of these disparate vocal styles. But also in the pure animalistic quality of the voice itself. This is partly due to the nearly indecipherable nature of the lyrics, which impose a disconnection from the analytical. They are arguably second only to the wails of black metal in this regard. The guttural growls of death-doom go beyond simply being vocals to actually becoming their own distinct instrument. But before long “Red Feasts” outro drone is swirling towards its watery conclusion. Later on the drums and guitar work at the nine minute mark are just one of many highlights throughout the many delightful twists and turns this album takes. At five minutes and forty seconds in, an otherworldly wind chime and brass fuzz out to a noisy drone before the doomy guitar and drums return. The song goes on to swell and contract from this chaotic beginning. It’s a good thing to have this wake-up call as preparation for the start of “Red Feasts Condensed into One” because it explodes with total unhinged anarchy. The drum fill and bell at the end of “Be Cadaver” are like a signal chime to reawaken back into your body.
The focus now shifted to these wicked growls backed by ominous guitar lines. The guitar and vocal work go a bit wild, before deconstructing again. The drums rise in the first proper blastbeat. It’s at about the six minute mark that the elements that have been building up all along fuse together. Sparagmos starts off with an ethereal windy extended introduction where the drums and vocals rise and fall in false starts that build up an uncomfortable anticipation which lasts until about halfway through the first track “Be Cadaver”. You can’t simply say, ‘I really liked the fourth song.’ But instead when you talk about the guitar solo at five minutes and forty three seconds on “Forest of October” they know exactly what you mean. There’s a bond to be found in the kinship such detail oriented specificity requires. Orchid revealed to me the strange joy of being forced to pinpoint down to the exact timestamp of a favorite moment within a thirteen minute song to even begin to discuss it at all. (Or much more recently on Body Void’s Atrocity Machine, which was easily my favorite metal album of last year.) For me it all started with Opeth’s first album. My love for music presented in this extended form began long before hearing the sixty minute one track monstrosity that is Dopesmoker or the epic Sorrow and Extinction of Pallbearer. There’s something special about long form songs which demand a near hypnotic level of focus, which pays off in a profound sense of clarity. Sparagmos delivers forty-five minutes of torturous death-laced doom split over just four monumental tracks. In this context the overall tone of the record and especially the album cover take on an even darker more sinister nature. Fun Fact: the flesh offerings, which were occasionally human, were often consumed raw after their ceremonial slaughter. If you’re wondering about the album’s peculiar title, Sparagmos comes from an Ancient Greek Dionysian rite of dismembering a sacrificial victim alive. As with that album Sparagmos flirts with various elements and influences with a heavy focus on atmosphere. Spectral Voice’s last album was several years back now, 2017’s Eroded Corridors of Unbeing. So talent wise we’re off to a pretty good start before we’ve even hit play on their new record Sparagmos. Spectral Voice are a death-doom band made up of three out of the four members of Blood Incantation joined by Eli Wendler of Black Curse on vocals and drums.