Terminus Episode 59 - Lykhaeon, Anthropophagus Depravity, Hell Strike, Sarinvomit

On a hot summer night in July of 2021, the dread lich Terminus rises from its grave again. Our break was a much needed one, but our addiction to painstaking discussion of extreme metal is one not so easily shaken by a touch of abstinence. Join us once again as we relapse into the worst of our habits with four new records from all corners of the metal scene. Did you miss us? No? That's okay I guess.

Lykhaeon cuts the ribbon on the podcast's grand re-opening ceremony with a style of murky, textural black/death metal that seems to be developing before our very eyes. Equal parts caverncore, orthodox, and oldschool Norse, Lykhaeon's style attempts to drag its ambient oddities and gauzy yet weighty production back towards the center via a judicious injection of traditional, incisive black metal riffing. We need a name for this: Post-Orthodox? Cavernblack? Either way, Lykhaeon establishes themselves as a standard bearer for this style, whatever its name might be.

It wouldn't be Terminus without a barrage of brutal death, and Anthropophagus Depravity provides exactly that. An Indonesian band surprisingly themed after Mayan religious atrocities, these guys work to create a new foundation for brutal death to build on. Blast beats and palm-muted 16th note runs? Check, of course, but there's also snatches of Ulcerate's watery dissonance and older Behemoth's vast and epic riffing. At once varied and utterly uncompromising, these upstarts present themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the new wave of brutal death.

After our break we tackle Hell Strike's debut EP, which presents a swirling combination of death, black, and thrash metal that may be familiar to those who have heard other bands attempting to reinvigorate the primordial ooze of proto extreme metal. Unlike many of those, though, Hell Strike approaches the challenge with an attack of razor-sharp tremolo riffing, propulsive thrash rhythms, and structural ideas lent from the most sophisticated ends of Swedish death metal. There's no thunking murk to be found here (not that there's anything wrong with that)- just a precise and rigorous attempt to recreate the style's roots in a new fashion.

Concluding our evening is the second full-length by Sarinvomit who wholeheartedly embrace a style of black metal now forgotten: that of Norsecore, most benighted of black metal's many spawn. There's blasting, angular riffing, and poisonous vocals, but also a wonderful sense of rhythmic play and a real passion for the days where black metal was still heavy and uncompromising. Are you tired of Finnblack, postblack, and any other "pretty" black metal? Here is your antidote. Not to be taken orally.

0:00 - Intro/Terminus News ft. Perceptions of Torment

0:10:28 - Lykhaeon - Opprobrium (Repose Records)*

0:52:37 - Anthropophagus Depravity - Apocalypto (Comatose Music)

1:31:36 - Interlude - Tiamat - “Whatever That Hurts” fr. Wildhoney (Century Media Records, 1994) (Available on all streaming services or in a batch of 20 at your local record store)

1:37:24 - Hell Strike - Hellstrike (Chaos Records)

2:16:16 - Sarinvomit - Awaken Ye Impious Hordes of Shaitan (Blasphemous Art Productions)

2:56:07 - Outro - Godslaying Hellblast - “Domination Hellfuck” fr. Bestial Laceration of Angelcunts (Hate & Murder Productions, 2011)

*CLARIFICATION: Death. Void. Terror. is a Helvetic Underground Committee project.

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