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Terra Existence

Primitive (2022)
Rating: 7/10

Now there’s a band name you don’t want to try saying when you’re drunk! This corpse-painted act originates from Toluca in Mexico and they play obscure-sounding lo-fi black metal. I was surprised to find that this new album is the third by the band and they’ve been around for over a decade.

Basically, what you get here is the usual scratchy vocal outbursts that become one with the clanking garage cacophony otherwise known as bass, guitar and drums. These guys revel in that dissonant atmosphere where the drums merely rattle like wind-chimes hammered by a tundra blizzard. The bass is somewhere in there too, while the drums are at the foremost as a tumbling energy.

This really is about as raw as black metal gets, and I’ve heard some truly basement recordings. The vocals are just snappy, ratty snaps of evil, there are shades of atmospherics and some decent and ominous slower passages – all exemplified on opening cut ‘Return Of The Golden Age’, where there are the predictable faster blasts too.

It’s standard black metal but it appeals to me, more so when I’ve taken a break from the scene for a while. And so the likes of the despicable ‘Satan, Lord And Master’ become quite catchy little numbers, whereas the speed metal hell of tracks such as ‘Astral Dimensions’ also provide enough vim and vigour. All in all, Terra Existence follows recognisable formulas but is raw and nasty enough to work.

Elsewhere, the likes of ‘Collective Shit’ give the album a strong demo quality, ‘Sealing Our Pact’ lumbers in doomy fashion with its predominant bass, and the hilariously titled ‘Unconditional Worship To The Eternal Cult To Satan’ is a grim, yet mid-paced foray which suggests these guys are probably a miserable bunch to be around. However, it is a track which exhibits the diversity of the band and displays some nice melody and meatier chugging.

Terra Existence sets out to be a primeval and underground release from a band that has mastered the art of low-budget extremity.

Neil Arnold

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