(written by Islander)
Last year we had the ghoulish pleasure of reviewing and premiering a full stream of Infected Seed, the debut album from the Italian band Miasmic Serum, which we called “one of the most thrilling and accomplished death metal assaults of the year so far.”
We are fortunate that Miasmic Serum are already back with a new EP named Better Left Dead that will be released on October 24th by Iron Fortress Records, and equally fortunate to be the bearer of another full streaming premiere.
Whereas that debut album was thematically focused on poisons, venoms, and hallucinogens, for this new EP the band have drawn inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft, and in particular his short story “Herbert West – Reanimator” and the cult 1985 film adaptation Re-Animator. The EP also features the band’s new vocalist Riccardo Marconato (Afraid Of Destiny).
As described by Iron Fortress, The EP’s opening track “Serum of Life” “gives voice to the deranged scientist himself, detailing his obsession with defeating death through a grotesque chemical serum.” The song proves to be both menacing and monstrous, propelled by spine-cracking drums, lead-weighted bass-lines, and grit-coated riffing that maliciously rumbles and feverishly writhes.
The words come forth in gruesome snarls and guttural roars; the guitars and the bass pulsate and moan; the drumming repeatedly shifts gears; a guitar solo sinuously expresses a kind of strange and screaming ecstasy; the riffing brutishly jackhammers as well as contorts; the vocals eventually vent strangled screams; the experience is mauling and macabre.
After that pulse-punching opener, Miasmic Serum turn to the title track “Better Left Dead“, which shifts the perspective to a reanimated corpse. It hits the listener with a brutish, jolting groove over a bone-rattling double-bass flurry, but the riffing also gruesomely moans, dismally boils, and seems to scream, and the drummer delivers one exhilarating fill after another.
Once again, the song includes a wide range of vocal horrors and supernaturally freakish guitar soloing that spirals high. The track is hulking, hideous, and convulsive — ghastly but head-hooking too.
The band conclude their grotesque musical tale with “Verdict“, in which the reanimated dead exact brutal revenge on their creator (in Lovecraft‘s story, they disembowel West and decapitate his corpse). The song itself is definitely brutal and vicious, a combination of traumatic musical thuggery and churning savagery. Coupled with maniacal screams and malignant growls, the riffing ruthlessly clubs the listener, discharges eviscerating violence, and spawns visions of dark madness, backed by electrifying drumwork and once again featuring a scintillating guitar solo.
“Verdict” may be the end of the tale, but it’s not the end of the EP. The EP includes one more song, a bonus track entitled “Witches – A Tribute to Dario Argento’s Suspiria“, which originally was included in the Iron Fortress mixtape Tortuous Horrors Await – Volume 3 (released in September). Here’s Miasmic Serum‘s statement about it:
The new single “Witches”, as its title says, is a tribute to Dario Argento’s “Suspiria”, and it was conceived, developed, and recorded with Il Becchino (TENEBRO). “Witches” themes are partially linked to the lyrics of our debut album: Infected Seed. Poisoning took center stage. Especially the theme of poisoning by ergot, typical of the late medieval period, a time when witch hunts were taking place.
Book-ended with sampled excerpts, the song once again displays Miasmic Serum‘s flare for the ferocious and the horrifying. It rumbles and ravages; stomps with primitive slamming ruthlessness; inflicts riffage that gruesomely drills and brazenly blares; percussively hacks, gallops, and convulses; and sets loose yet another wild guitar solo. Perhaps needless to say, the vocals are insane.
And now you ought to experience this terrific EP for yourselves — if you didn’t already page down past all these paragraphs long ago:
Better Left Dead was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Giovanni Pezzato at Alter Recording Studio in Treviso, and it features cover art by Simone Faggian (thegarbagekid), a logo by View From The Coffin, and photography by Giorgio Silvestri.
Iron Fortress is releasing the EP on CD, cassette tape, and digital formats, and they recommend it for flesh-hungry fans of Malevolent Creation, Obituary, and Morbid Angel.
PRE-ORDER CD:
https://www.ironfortressrecords.com/products/miasmic-serum-better-left-dead-cd-pre-order
PRE-ORDER MC:
https://www.ironfortressrecords.com/products/miasmic-serum-better-left-dead-tape-pre-order
MIASMIC SERUM:
https://www.instagram.com/miasmicserum/
https://miasmicserum.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/miasmicserum/
https://open.spotify.com/intl-it/artist/3h5kWafWhaBPe3D0Nbyy8A