
The 1898 painting by Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl that Construct of Lethe chose for their intense new album, Exiler, was an inspired selection. It depicts Hermes Necropompos on the banks of the Acheron, the “river of woe”, conducting the shades of the dead from the upper to the lower world and their rendezvous with the boatman Charon. You gaze upon this work, and you can imagine the beseeching cries of the newly dead, hoping for some reprieve from their fate, anguished at the thought of leaving the lives they knew. But the god inexorably walks on among them, perhaps not entirely immune to those chaotic cries of pain and terror as these souls see the boatman approach, but nevertheless determined to shepherd them to their eternal doom.
And like the painting (a complete version of which you can view here), the music of Exiler summons chaos, doom, terrible grandeur, and the eeriness of a subterranean realm terrifyingly different from the sunlit plane of existence in the world above. Or to put it more plainly, it’s a head-spinning brand of death metal that succeeds in creating ominous and otherworldly atmosphere while also putting megawatt jolts of power straight into your spine.
One riveting track from Exiler (“The Clot”) has already been revealed via Toilet Ov Hell, and we’ve got another one for you today in advance of the album’s release by Everlasting Spew on June 20th. Continue reading »