Construct of Lethe Archives - NO CLEAN SINGING

CONSTRUCT OF LETHE – A KINDNESS DEALT IN VENOM

Jun 192024

(Andy Synn has some kind, and some unkind, words for the new album from Construct of Lethe, out Friday on Transcending Obscurity)

There’s an argument to be made – in fact, I’m going to make it now – that Construct of Lethe‘s second album, 2018’s Exiler, is one of the best Death Metal albums of the last ten (and probably twenty) years.

But, after releasing such a milestone album (one which you might even be tempted to call a “masterpiece”, at least in the original sense of that word) what exactly was the band to do?

And the answer, it turns out, is to throw caution to the wind and construct an ambitiously flawed, yet absolutely fascinating (not to mention utterly ferocious) autobiographical concept album about the devastating doldrums of depression and suicidal ideation, split into 12 “chapters” (not all of which could be called “songs”), that is intended to be experienced as a singular, uninterrupted sequence.

So, without further interruption or delay… let’s dive in.

AN NCS PREMIERE: CONSTRUCT OF LETHE — EXCERPTS FROM “A KINDNESS DEALT IN VENOM”

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Apr 122024

The concept behind Construct of Lethe‘s new album A Kindness Dealt In Venom is challenging, and frankly, very disturbing. The music is also challenging, frequently so wildly unconventional that it could be branded “experimental death metal”, and in its extravagant twists and turns and instrumental spectacles, some disturbing and others exuberantly delirious, it creates a transfixing union with the concept.

The music is meant to be heard as one continuous song, 44 minutes in length, which follows the shattering conceptual narrative. However, it does include separate segments as it proceeds along its traumatic course, and we have two of those for you today — two that are among the most head-spinning episodes in the stunning pageant that the album creates. Continue reading »

UNSUNG HEROES OF 2020: CONSTRUCT OF LETHE / EYE OF SOLITUDE / PERSEFONE

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Jan 042021

(In this post Andy Synn reviews three 2020 album “reissues” that in different ways gave the original releases a new lease on life.)

“Out with the old, in with the new!”

That has, traditionally, been the mantra that accompanies the end of one year and the beginning of another.

And so, in that spirit, I’ve decided to bit adieu to 2020 with a look back at three albums which originally reared their ugly heads in 2016, 2011, and 2004, respectively, but which were all given a new lease on life last year.

So I guess that opening mantra should have been “everything old is new again…”, shouldn’t it? Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2018’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 34): CONSTRUCT OF LETHE, DEMONICAL, CIST

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Feb 262019

All three songs in this installment of the list (which I assure you will be coming to an end this week) are flavors of death metal, but very different flavors, as you shall see.

CONSTRUCT OF LETHE

We had the good fortune of hosting not one, but two, song premieres leading up to the release of Construct of Lethe‘s powerful 2018 album, Exiler. The first of those was “Rot of Augury”, and the second was “Terraces of Purgation”. Both were really good songs from a granite-solid album — and I didn’t pick either one of them for this list. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CONSTRUCT OF LETHE — “TERRACES OF PURGATION”

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Jun 052018

Metal feeds a multitude of needs, both emotional and intellectual. At one end of the genre’s vast multidimensional spectrum, it can induce a dreamlike revery, guiding the mind in a gliding drift across astral planes. At another end of the spectrum, it can slug you in the neck and jellify the brain with explosions of chaotic savagery, playing upon our darkest fears. With the song you’re about to hear, we’re at that latter end of the span.

The song in question is “Terraces of Purgation” from Exiler, the powerful new death metal album by Construct of Lethe, which will be released on June 20 by Everlasting Spew Records. It features guest vocals by Enrico H. Di Lorenzo (Hideous Divinity). This is the second premiere from the album that it’s been our privilege to bring you, following “Rot of Augury”, and if you missed that one you’ll also have a chance to hear it at the end of this post along with the album’s first advance track, “The Clot”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CONSTRUCT OF LETHE — “ROT OF AUGURY”

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May 172018

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 »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SUNDAY: CONSTRUCT OF LETHE, ROTTENDAWN, SULPHUROUS, EZKATON

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Apr 292018

This being a Sunday, you might have been expecting a SHADES OF BLACK post — and there will be one later today — but I wanted to recommend some other new discoveries first. The music in this collection is more genre-scattered than the format of SOB would allow, but I have included an excellent new black metal track at the end, sort of as a segue from this post to the next one.

By the way, I decided not to include the new tracks that appeared last week from At the Gates, Marduk, Skeletonwitch, and The Agony Scene, despite the urgings of some of my NCS comrades, mainly because I wanted to go more under-the-radar (and also because I had mixed feelings about a couple of those tracks). But if you missed them, the hyperlinks will take you right there.

CONSTRUCT OF LETHE

I would have listened to the new Construct of Lethe song eventually, even without seeing the headline for Toilet Ov Hell’s premiere, because I have very good memories of their 2016 EP, The Grand Machination, for which we ourselves premiered two songs. But I got to the new song faster after seeing this headline, though I did allow enough time to enjoy the entire ToV article first: “CONSTRUCT OF LETHE BRING RIFFS SO THICC THEY’LL CLOT YER DICK“. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: CONSTRUCT OF LETHE — “THE GRAND MACHINATION”

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Oct 052016

On October 7, the death metal band Construct of Lethe will release a new concept EP named The Grand Machination. Not long ago we premiered one of the six tracks on the EP, and today we have for you a full stream (along with a review).

For those who may only now be discovering the band, Construct of Lethe was started as a project of Tony Petrocelly (ex-Bethledeign, Dead Syndicate, Deranged Theory, Xaoc) and now includes a full line-up of Petrocelly (guitars, bass), David Schmidt (vocals), and Swiss lead guitarist Patrick Bonvin (Near Death Condition). Session drums on the EP were provided by the veteran Kevin Talley. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CONSTRUCT OF LETHE — “ASCENDIT EX INFEROS”

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Sep 162016

There is a lot to like about the new EP by Construct of Lethe. The cover art alone is enough to seize attention. And the concept of the EP is equally intriguing: It’s a reimagining of one of Mark Twain’s lesser known and most controversial works, published after his death, named Letters From Earth, in which Twain expressed his disdain for Christianity through essays and a short story consisting of 11 letters written by Satan to the archangels Gabriel and Michael (you can read them here).

And then there is the music itself… which hits like a 10-ton hammer.

The name of the EP is The Grand Machination, and it will be released by the band on October 7. What we have for you today is a stream of the second of six tracks on the EP, a song called “Ascendit Ex Inferos (Ascent from Hell)“. It tells the story of Lucifer’s discovery of Christ’s birth, and his decision to walk among people in human form. Continue reading »

SUNDAY SEEN AND HEARD (AEGAEON, ALUK TODOLO, CONSTRUCT OF LETHE, INI, SUPPRESSIVE FIRE, VINTERBLOT, VOIDNAGA, WAKE)

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Jan 102016

For the second day in a row, I’m afraid I’m going to have to throw some new music your way without the enormous benefit of me telling you what it sounds like. I really do like all of these new songs and I wish I had time to explain why, but it’s an NFL playoff weekend and the Seattle oceanic raptors are playing today and I’ll be biting my nails in front of the TV instead of blogging.

Anyway, here’s a big collection of recently released songs from different genres of metal that I heard over the last 24 hours that I hope you’ll like, presented in alphabetical order. (Go Hawks.)

AEGAEON

It’s been two and a half years since we last wrote about this Indiana band, but they finally have some new music. It’s a single called “The Integral Path”, available on Bandcamp. (Thanks to Booker for the tip on this one.) Continue reading »