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SLIMELORD
Chytridiomycosis Relinquished

20 Buck Spin (2024)
Rating: 8.5/10

Spin Slimelord, just like fellow Brit deathsters Coffin Mulch, has opted for a semi-Lovecraftian splat of psychedelic death metal beginning with a kaleidoscopic splodge of cover art that echoes Tomb Mold’s latest output. And just like Tomb Mold, Coffin Mulch et al, Slimelord continues to perplex with its ever-bewildering swamp of gooey galactic gore.

With their amphibiously fungoid album title, the intriguing Leeds-based combo delves further into unchartered territory resulting in a heady mix of deathly doom (‘The Hissing Moor’), the genuinely odd yet chilling (‘Gut-Brain Axis’ – complete with frogs!) and the gloom-soaked (‘Tidal Slaughtermarsh’).

Boggy, soggy and sodden, this is the soundtrack to Britain’s fog choked marshes and coastal quagmire, complete with a soundtrack of geese and mud ooze. Draped in salty seaweed and tidal mist, Slimelord fetidly amble through strange soundscapes that vary from jabbing injections of savagery (‘Splayed Mudscape’) to dissonant yet cosmic shuddering (‘The Beckoning Bell’).

Slimelord no longer skinny dip in those algae-ridden pools, now they are fully submerged in the bubbling, aquatic plateaus that rumble ominously (‘Batrachomorpha Resurrections Chamber’) but also offer the melodious within the murky too (‘Heroic Demise’), although at times the more prosaic escapades seem a little out of place alongside the squelching and belching companions. Dripping with horrific hallucinations, this platter drags you along jagged shores of slime, silt and gelatinous shit to the caress of sea frets.

After an impressive trio of EPs, Slimelord has issued a babbling debut full-length of horror that draws you in like an exotic frog perched on a lilypad before ending your life with its poison. To an extent, this is a ground-breaking release within the genre and one that taps into the rural terror of British folk and fauna. Chytridiomycosis Relinquished is gunkier than an eye full of conjunctivitis or a belly full of frog spawn. Burp!

Neil Arnold

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