SHORT BUT SWEET: HEAD OF THE BAPTIST / THEMATA / UNDERNEATH

(Andy Synn encourages you to check out three of his favourite EPs from the last month)

As always I’ve been a little lax in covering the various EPs and related short-form releases which have been put out over the last 10-ish months.

But I’ll hopefully be able to sneak a few more in before the end of the year (when, as always, I’ll be putting together a round-up of all the things I’ve listened to, including those I didn’t get to write about), beginning with today’s trifecta of auditory abuse from Head of the Baptist (Belgium), Themata (Finland), and Underneath (USA).

HEAD OF THE BAPTIST – CESSATION OF WILL

Belgian bruisers Head of the Baptist were, despite being one of the smallest names on the bill, one of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing at Maryland Deathfest this year, and their performance did not disappoint.

What it did do, however, was leave me with a hankering for more of their crusty, blackened Death-Grind, especially since their most recent recorded material (The Pyres of Equivalence) was released way back in March of 2023.

And although it’s only two tracks, Cessation of the Will has definitely helped ease those cravings a little – as well as convincing me more than ever that I need to do some live dates with these guys – while also still leaving me hungry for more.

So don’t wait, go give the EP a listen and experience the heroically hateful bombardment of the title-track (just over two and a half minutes of Crust-Punk-meets-Blackened-Death belligerence that sounds like a gloriously ugly, yet also suprisingly melodic, mash-up of Martyrdod and Misery Index) and the hypnotically heavy chug ‘n’ churn of “Ember’s Embrace” for yourselves… and then tell the band to drop me a message through any of the usual channels!

THEMATA – RIVEN

I try not to use the term “super-group” when I can avoid it, but I will say that Finnish Sludge-spewers Themata – whose line-up apparently includes both current and former members of bands like Atlases, Dö, Oceanwake, Omnium Gatherum and more – are, on the evidence presented here, definitely a superb group.

The juxtaposition between bleak, haunting melody and gargantuan, earth-shaking groove on opener “Colossal” – which quickly introduces you to the EP’s appropriately gargantuan guitar tone and cavernously heavy bass sound – is an early hint at how good the group’s debut release is going to be, balancing catchy and crushing in equal measure, with the massive, almost Meshuggah-like mix of needling dissonance and spine-crushing heaviness that is “Loathe” then (somehow) upping the ante even further.

Make no mistake about it, this is absolutely one of the heaviest, weightiest releases – EP, or otherwise – that you’re likely to hear all year, with the oppressive sonic density and claustrophobic atmospherics of tracks like moody, mid-record monstrosity “From the Ancients” and the primal, punishing rhythmic assault of “Floods” more than capable of giving the likes of LLNN and Lo! a serious run for their money.

It’s quickly become a favourite of mine, that’s for sure… to the point that by the time the desolate devastation of brooding closer “Of Ire” has finished laying waste to my ears I’m almost always ready to spin it again!

UNDERNEATH- IN THE SHADOW OF A WATCHTOWER

Let’s get one thing straight… while I wasn’t quite as big a fan of It Exists Between Us, the second album from US Grind-crushers Underneath, as I was their previous release (From the Gut of Gaia, which has now been disavowed, was one of my favourite albums of the year) it didn’t take me long to come around to the band’s slight shift in sound and start to appreciate it for what it was, rather than what it wasn’t.

Which is why I was so excited to pick up their new EP last month, which maintains both the same eye-catching artistic aesthetic as its predecessor as well as the band’s love of abrasive, unrelenting audio-violence.

Clocking in at just over twelve minutes, In The Shadow of a Watchtower is a six-song slab of sheer sonic terorrism combining Grindcore intensity, Mathcore madness, Sludgecore groove, and Deathcore heft… and that’s all just in the first track!

“The Eternal Return” is a brutal, one-and-a-half minute bone-grinding of blazing blastbeats and bludgeoning riffs which recalls what I loved about their first two (now forgotten) releases, albeit with a touch more of that raw ugliness which saturated their last album, while the wild, spasming discordance and deathly density of “Difference and Repetition” errs more towards the latter while continuing to burst through and break down genre boundaries as if they weren’t even there.

And while the relentless beat-down of “Building Buildings Where Buildings Are Built” is destined to become a major favourite, of that I am certain, it’s the last two tracks – the groaning, grimly infectious Sludge-soaked “The Sword of Akasha” (which could probably go toe-to-toe with Primitive Man at their nastiest) and the tumultuous title-track (which is perhaps the heaviest, harshest hybrid of Deathcore, Grindcore, and Sludge the band have ever written… as well as one of the best things they’ve ever done) – which really showcase the band’s ever evolving potential, to the point where I really want to hear even more from them as soon as we can!