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TENEBRIFIC
Labyrinth Of Anguish EP

Self-released (2024)
Rating: 7/10

I must apologise for initially reading the band name as Tenerife, but such is the spidery nature of these logos! This is a band from Sydney, Australia that plays a blackened death metal style and Labyrinth Of Anguish is their debut EP. Tenebrific is a studio project consisting of two members, namely Cris Bassan and Adam Martin who have featured for several extreme metal acts over the last few years.

Labyrinth Of Anguish deals out three tracks: ‘Harmony ov Suffering’, ‘Tormenting Shadows’ and ‘The Final Offering’. ‘Harmony ov Suffering’ is my personal favourite song simply due to its dank atmosphere and slow, trickling suspense that reeks of impending doom. The vocals are deep, chesty coughs that vomit out black mould spores that cling to the dripping walls which resonate with stark percussive thuds.

This is despairing death metal fogged in gloom whereby even pacier segments boast that melancholic extremity which is somewhat indicative of the death metal scene currently. So, this is by no means different from a lot of cavernous death metal, but that’s okay because as ‘Tormenting Shadows’ proves it’s all about the dank atmosphere as the opening strains echo like hellish machinery churning in the blackest depths of Hades to a soundtrack of moaning spectres. It’s not long before a cold, dragging tone creeps from the darkness as eventually the fog gives way to fetid percussion and a blustery riff.

Tenebrific is the sort of act that provides something akin to standing on a boggy rain-soaked quagmire, because the endless haze of drizzle they create literally freezes the spine. The closing track opts for a faster approach but it still becomes one with the icy drizzle. To an extent this EP acts as a steady gush of misery and it’s a bleakness I am happy to succumb to.

Neil Arnold

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