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CHURCH OF DISGUST
Unworldly Summoning

Memento Mori (2014)
Rating: 7.5/10

Texan death metallers Church Of Disgust are a relatively new band, and Unworldly Summoning is a true old school death metal experience that hasn’t left my ears since the first spin. If you like deep, guttural and cavernous obscure-sounding death metal that reeks of 1989-1992, then you have just got to tear off a chunk of this little beauty.

Church Of Disgust is a two-piece band fronted by Dustin James, who has the most unearthly, echoing vocals I’ve heard for some time. He also supplies the crippling guitars, which have such a morose edge about them that it’s hard to escape the sombre smog of this nine-track record, which also boasts the musical talents of Joshua Bokemeyer.

From every ghoulish chug to all those dense plods of the drums, this is an ashen affair that has a really infectious groove to it. It wouldn’t be unfair to bring up Brit metalheads Bolt Thrower when describing the war-torn splendour of this record, which reaches out from the darkness with the lumbering, swollen riff of ‘Immemorial Lunacy’. There is a dank air about this ogre of a tune that is doomy in its introduction, before a buzzing guitar and crumbling bass interrupts the flow and the band lash out a punky rattle of remote, muffled vocals which ease us back to the trudge.

‘Rotting Above Ground’ and ‘Writhing Dominion’ are almost dreary in their no frills nature, both tracks seemingly fleeting as they barely extend over the three-minute mark. By the time the haze has cleared, however, the truly staggering six-minute ‘The Great Chamber’ secretes from the cracks like some deadly gas.

From its peculiar opening of eerie conjuring and spooky chimes to the despicable chugs of the fusty guitars and stinking vocals, this is true menace; a pivotal track on the record that seems exhausted as it traipses along, choking on its own bodily emissions. The drums are cold, the guitars grey and dreary. It’s the slowest cut on the record but also the one with the utmost swagger, while ‘The Opener Of The Way’ is probably the most brutal. It’s short, sweet and sporadically pacey; it lumbers like a troll, mixing a Swedish death metal groove with something more stale and pungent.

Church Of Disgust does save the best track for last though, the eight-minute title track which features the biggest groove on the record. The hoarse vocals accompany the almost turgid guitar sound, which seems to labour alongside those simple drum thuds. As the track evolves, however, it once again reminds one of Bolt Thrower, existing as a piece of trotting machinery that has been left for too long in the pouring rain. The thrashier injections are unexpected and allow the listener to escape, albeit briefly, from the fumes, but as the song grinds to a halt one can only nod in appreciation to Church Of Disgust who cheekily have raided the larder of old school death metal and simply injected their own dose of silt.

While often cumbersome in its approach, Unworldly Summoning is still a belching, billowing lump of disfigured metal that we need in our lives.

Neil Arnold

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