(written by Islander)
Today we have for you the second song released so far from Contra Hominem, the debut album from the Italian duo Affliction Vector that’s now set for release by Iron Bonehead Productions on June 6th.
But before we get to today’s song premiere, let’s consider the first song from the album that has already exploded into the surface world — “Ephemeral Lifeless“.
With only a few haunting seconds of chiming and shimmering tones to announce itself, the song erupts in a breathtaking assault of shrill and searing riffage, obliterating percussion, and possessed cries that echo as if reverberating off a temple’s high vaulted ceiling. Simultaneously delirious and frightening, otherworldly and violent, the sonic vulcanism rendered here compulsively seizes attention.
The layered fretwork is dense, all-consuming in its scale, and incendiary, but it magnificently swirls and shines. Meanwhile, the drumming not only thunders but also shifts into martial cadences, and the music itself also shifts, truly becoming afflicted in its mood, combining dismal dragging chords with the shrill and still-delirious convulsions of a second guitar.
Ethereal chiming tones lend their eerie presence within a renewal of the song’s elevating vulcanism — and the music does elevate, soaring and sweeping in ways that engulf the listener in displays of fiery grandeur as the drums boom and stagger and the vocals themselves somehow reach further zeniths of unbridled throat-ruining madness.
The music thus creates a chilling but exhilarating intersection between full-throttle black/death ruination, dazzling but dangerous splendor, and spectral evanescence. No wonder Iron Bonehead has portrayed the album as “an inter-spiritual bridge between the heavens and Hell itself.”
And now we come to today’s premiere of “Nero Gorgo“. Once again Affliction Vector move at a dizzying pace, and the swirling incandescence of the richly layered fretwork still dazzles; you might think of it as the ravishing spin of an otherworldly whirlpool, though vulcanism also still springs to mind. Once again, the vocals are berserk — malignantly shrieking and also screaming as if being flayed alive.
The music is also laced with strange and enticing guitar emanations that shiver and squirm. When the hellbound pace diminishes, the drums rock on, the bass gets funky, and the swarming guitars seem to wail in agony — but the brilliantly blistering notes also manifest as desperate seizures.
Like the first song off the album, this one is best experienced with good headphones. The music is indeed volcanic, but its elaborate and constantly mutating patterns, often flashing between the channels, are rendered with striking clarity and separation — yet that doesn’t diminish the hurtling and head-rattling power of the rhythms or the crazed extremity of the vocals.
Affliction Vector is composed of vocalist/guitarist/bassist Ans (ex-Ooze, ex-Grime) and new drummer Stefano (Claustrum, Fuoco Fatuo).
Iron Bonehead will release Contra Hominem on CD and vinyl LP formats, and it comes recommended for fans of more recent Teitanblood and the band’s labelmates Possession and Venefixion. Ordering opportunities will become available on the release date.
IRON BONEHEAD:
https://www.ironbonehead.de
https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/ironboneheadproductions
AFFLICTION VECTOR:
https://www.facebook.com/AnsAV666/
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