CAUSTIC PHLEGM - Purulent Apocalypse (CD)

CAUSTIC PHLEGM are now set to unleash their debut album, displaying ever-sicker sides of their authentically ancient aesthetic. Titled Purulent Apocalypse, the band's first full-length sees Vasilakos going deeper into his influences - the first-two-albums era of Carcass, Pungent Stench, and Entombed to Undergang, Cryptworm, and Cerebral Rot more recently - and arriving with a monolithic slab of crushing darkness. More measured in its tempo, almost coolly cruising at times, Purulent Apocalypse doesn't need to blast away at every opportunity to accomplish its goal; the riffing is likeliest the absolute HEAVIEST you will hear all year on a death metal record, and the below-the-abyss vocals are slimed to the extreme. But more than the execution of such is the songwriting: straightforward and streamlined, hammering yet atmospheric, and on the right side of "caveman." "I wanted to utilize my HM2 and RAT pedals, which I love, and play something simple, to have fun without overthinking it like I do in Chestcrush," says Vasilakso, "just plug in, record the first riff in mind, and gurgle." While that seems to undersell the primitive brilliance of Purulent Apocalypse, there's no discounting the sum effect, which is enhanced by an undercurrent of creepy vintage synth in spots - something that also earmarked that first demo, with its lost-VHS interludes.