Second release for Castrator.
Three years after their debut studio album, the band consisting of Robin Mazen (bass, Gruesome), Carolina Perez (drums, Hypoxia), and Clarissa Badini (vocals, Tartarus, Vicious Blade) recruited Sara Loerlein (guitar, The Breathing Process) to release Coronation of the Grotesque, their second album, on Dark Descent Records. Once again, the album artwork is by Jon Zig (Abominable Putridity, Gorgasm, Deeds of Flesh, Defeated Sanity, Devourment, Dying Fetus, etc.).
Fragments of Defiance doesn’t waste a single second and relentlessly assaults us, adapting to the codes of brutal death metal, whether in its savage rhythms with furious leads or Clarissa‘s screams, which she manages equally well in deep, cavernous tones and wilder high notes. The track passes fairly quickly, as does the virulent I Am Eunuch, which quickly brings us back to unbridled violence while remaining in complex Old School tones that propel us towards Covenant of Deceit, marking the first moment of respite with its introductory sample. It is obviously short-lived, as the frenzied riffs come back to hit us with all their force, leaving a few dissonant passages to punctuate the assault towards Mortem Opeterie, where solid riffs follow one another to continue in this ocean of aggression. The track is also quite short, as is Remnants of Chaos which follows suit and offers a rather choppy approach, both in terms of speed and heaviness, but Deviant Miscreant takes its place and picks up the pace again to allow the blast to fully express itself under dissonant riffs. There are also some groovy passages before Psalm of the Beguiled takes its place to indulge in its own massacre, letting the vocalist show us the extent of her ferocity over an overwhelming rhythm with numerous lead parts. The catchy patterns return on Blood Bind’s Curse, the next track, which delivers another dose of highly unifying moments, such as the slowdown at the end, then the band gives us a few seconds’ pause on the Discordant Rumination sample before letting loose to break our necks. We notice that the guitars are brought to the forefront on this track before the final slowdown, but it is with Metal Command, a cover of American Thrash Metal titans Exodus, that the band closes its album with more than infectious energy, staying true to the forty-year-old composition!
Taking up Brutal Death Metal’s clichés with a feminist touch, Castrator makes its mark on the scene with an extremely powerful sound! Coronation of the Grotesque ranks alongside the classics of the genre.
90/100