RSS Feed


SUSURRANT VOID
Ontological Degradation (2025)

Putting the pit into Pittsburgh is the first demo from utterly abysmal death-doom act, Susurrant Void. One intro (‘Delusions Of Dreams’) and three tracks (‘Withering Epiphanies’, ‘Multidimensional Permeations’ and ‘Solipsistic Viscera’) with a total duration of 29 minutes is all I can take as I’m dragged against my will into a cesspool of horror.

Ontological Degradation provides a deep state of lurking terror manifested through the archaic lumber of ‘Withering Epiphanies’. The percussive slaps sound like they’re an hour apart, sluggishly heavy and in tandem to the snail paced groan of the guitar. It’s laborious to say the least, barely seeking life let alone light. There’s also the archetypal bellows which sound as if the ground is about to rumble and crack open, the guttural utterances of despair emanating from such a deep, bottomless orifice.

‘Multidimensional Permeations’ doesn’t break the mouldy mold, with the exception of a stark and eerie interlude it’s the same dynamic drudgery. If a fly were to land in a jar of peanut butter, then this outing would be its slow death soundtrack. Barely in motion, the demo concludes with ‘Solipsistic Viscera’; solipsistic meaning “selfish” or in more philosophical terms, “relating to the theory or view that the self is all that can be known to exist”. Again, it’s that thick miasmic ooze that couldn’t even keep up with a slither of treacle.

Nightmarish in its form, Ontological Degradation does test my patience at times, but it also draws me into to its coils of wet cement.

The Susurrant Void demo can be purchased here.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Demo Reviews
Share