(written by Islander)
Much has been written about the progressive death metal band Sallow Moth since this solo project of Garry Brents began releasing music a decade ago. It drew attention fairly quickly, and then the attention continued expanding with each new release.
We ourselves have devoted continuing attention to Sallow Moth’s evolution, with our Andy Synn extensively reviewing each of the band’s albums released so far — The Larval Hope, Stasis Cocoon, and Mossbane Lantern — as well as the 2024 EP Vial.
One significant reason why so much has been written about Sallow Moth is that the music has undergone a continual process of transformation, but with each phase displaying significant achievements. Heretofore, that process has led to increasingly unpredictable, unorthodox, head-spinning, and challenging concoctions of music.
Which will leave many people wondering about what happens in Sallow Moth’s forthcoming fourth album, Hydrophilous Brood, which follows Mossbane Lantern in a relatively quick year-over-year churn. We have some hints for you today in our premiere of the album’s fourth track, “Biohybrid Virulence“.
It’s worth noting upfront that Brents recorded this new album with a highly skilled drummer in Allen Gingerich, who also performed guitar solos on two of the new songs. The album also includes a large number of guest appearances, which we’ll identify a bit later on.
It’s also worth sharing the following description we received from the band’s label (Willowtip Records) of how the new album continues the strange narratives of its predecessors:
Hydrophilous Brood takes place in Pamugara, a dimensional nest immersed in a lush world where organisms are rematerialized into new hybrid species after passing through a powerful portal, a highly unpredictable artifact known as the ‘Mossbane Lantern’. Each song has a thematic connection to various artifacts on the previous album (Mossbane Lantern), extrapolating the characteristics and aftereffects of those artifacts within this temperamental environment of a planet.
Willowtip also previews that while the new album musically retains the genre-morphing tendencies of previous records, it “deliberately exhibits more focus on the intersection of technical death metal and brutal death metal”, with notable influences including the music of Mortal Decay, Wormed, Deeds of Flesh, Cephalic Carnage, and Cynic.
But now let’s get to “Biohybrid Virulence“.
It’s is the kind of mind-boggling spectacle that leaves us flailing around for descriptive metaphors. It’s like an extravagant fireworks display, if it were possible for fireworks to deliriously squiggle as well as brightly explode — and then to maniacally attack the audience.
Or perhaps like swarming insects that are not only devouring some helpless carcass but also simultaneously building a tesseract. Or some kind of experimental technique for re-wiring brains so they can understand the language of plants but can no longer comprehend human speech.
The technical skill of the performances is eye-popping, but frankly that level of skill is a necessity given the intricacy of the composition, which challenges complete comprehension on even multiple listens. In some respects the song is a hostile bludgeoner, but it’s packed with varying fretwork techniques and mood-generators, plus some sudden stops and turn-on-a-dime tempo changes.
It’s violent, viciously swarming, and manically darting, but it’s also speckled with strange quirks, including squirmy and oddly darting arpeggios and mellow-toned and quickly burbling bass appearances with a jazzy mien. And the ending… the ending is unlike everything else but might be the strangest facet of them all, perhaps a closing reminder of the strange world which the album conceptualizes.
The song also features a vocal cavalcade that’s the sonic equivalent of a medieval bestiary — a mad and murderous array of brutish gutturals and hair-on-fire screams, but no more straight-forward than the music.
Well, that’s enough verbiage. Hang on to your head and press Play below:
And now here are the album credits, including the guest appearances we mentioned earlier:
Garry Brents – guitars, bass, lead vocals, keys, lyrics, production
Allen Gingerich – drums, guitar solos on 5 and 6.
Guest Appearances:
Cory Peterson – additional gutturals on ending on 4. (Thaetas).
Dan Wolfson – guitar solo on 7. (Snarling, Cave Moth).
Dave Norman – background high screams on 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7. (Co-runner of Zegema Beach Records).
Evan Sadler – additional high vocals on 2, 3, 6, and 7. additional lyric line on 3. (Labyrinthine Heirs).
Laela Clark – additional high screams on 2. (thisworldisnotkind),
Ola – Trumpet on 8.
Simon Joseph – additional gutturals on 2. (Defaced).
Tucker Spellane – additional high screams on 5. (Lurching).
Hydrophilous Brood features thoroughly engrossing cover art by Clare McCarthy. Willowtip will release the album on July 24th, on vinyl LP, CD, and digital formats. For pre-orders and more info, see the links below — and then also lend your ears to the album’s first single, “Distended in Panglacial Advent“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://bit.ly/hydrophilous-willowtip
https://sallowmoth.bandcamp.com/album/hydrophilous-brood-2
SALLOW MOTH:
http://facebook.com/sallowmoth
http://instagram.com/sallowmoth
http://linktr.ee/yerbacaster