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SUCCUMB
XXI

The Flenser (2021)
Rating: 8.5/10

All hail the return of the rather scary San Francisco act Succumb. I was both mesmerised and mortified by the band’s 2017 self-titled debut studio album; such was its obscure nature, the vocals appeared as remote echoes behind the cold instrument walls.

Succumb are somewhat of an acquired taste, and at times a harrowing experience as vocalist Cheri Musrasrik barks forth strange, almost hardcore-esque yelps. And I’m pleased to say that such manifesting hasn’t changed.

XXI offers up eight tracks, opening with the wild, cold, distorted and certainly distant and disturbing flurry of ‘Lilim’. This track is symbolic of the band’s unnature; a wiry, remote soundbite like a sonic radio interference blast of discordant rhythms and total unpredictability. This is not your standard death metal chugging but a harsh blast of nastiness.

‘Maenad’ is faster, but as equally horrid and inaccessible. The percussion rattles, the riffs churn and the bass jars, all under the command of those possessed vocal barks that drift from deep growls to protesting barks. It’s truly lethal and noisy that only briefly breathes with a slower chug. So, again, to call it death metal would be unfair on this unruly clan.

‘Graal’ has a black / death harshness to its structure, but it’s hard to believe that such individuals could create such pallid, grating, wiry chaos. Meanwhile, ‘Okeanos’ is vicious, seemingly reckless yet somehow tight and suffocating in its extremity.

‘Smoke’ gnashes in almost catchy fashion but maintains that air of arrogance; the brutality forces the listener away, the whole sound acting as a blast furnace grinding and spewing grey fumes.

Succumb is somehow away from the crowd, alien in its framework of relentless pounding and streetwise in its vocalisations. How such song structures come about I’ll never know, but XXI is a demented and jarring experience. And while this album comes highly recommended, it will take a long time to recover from.

Neil Arnold

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