DEADFORM’s self-titled EP didn’t so much “burst” onto the scene in 2022, unless speaking of a pustule oozing its infection out after the needle has pierced it to drain. Apparently the pus has returned, but instead of the surgical prick of a needle, the trio has decided to apply pressure until it ruptures of its own accord with Entrenched In Hell. What else would one expect from former members of STORMCROW, the mighty DYSTOPIA, and LAUDANUM?

‘Of Plagues’ quickly shifts from cave dweller drone to HELLBASTARD groove-laden crust, the rhythm section/dual vocalists battling to be heard over their own cacophony, but it hits so hard in all the right places, guitarist Judd Hawk laying a massive riff atop the bludgeoning. Speaking of layers, there’s a lot happening with the guitars here that could easily be missed by a cursory listen. Witness ‘As Above So Below’, equal parts Apocalyptic Raids and AMEBIX’s Arise!, but with chords and phrasings entwined about the ever-present rhythm onslaught, making repeated spins a necessity. The use of tasteful keys throughout the album must be mentioned, as their presence at the start of most songs.

‘The Exit’ begins with disjointed choir vocals, elongated feedback and scathe into an almost BOLT THROWER intensity, the drum work of Dino Sommese underpinning a lupine bass pattern from Brian Clouse, until the main section hits its stride with an insistence and familiarity born of literal decades in the trenches of this style for all members. Fuckin’ cathartic, is what it is. Frantic, frenetic and furious, ‘Misery’ is impossible to wrap ones head ’round at first listen; shifting tempos, tones, alternately and – somehow simultaneously free-form and primal in execution, leading us into the ‘Fetid Breath’ finale.

For the old crusties, DEADFORM has given us something to be proud of, legends of the style delivering so viscerally in these days of “reunions” and re-recordings with “today’s production”. For those unfamiliar, Entrenched In Hell will open your mind and ears to a world of sonic flame and darkness, ragged and unapologetic.
Review By: Lord Randall

DEADFORM
Entrenched In Hell
Tankcrimes