RSS Feed


XENOMORPH
Rüstwelt

Self-released (2022)
Rating: 5/10

Nothing beats a lump of frozen black metal to wake you up in the morning, and this is the debut full-length release from Cincinnati, Ohio-based one-man unit Xenomorph.

Rüstwelt is an independent volcano of brash, stirring and ultimately raw and aggressive black metal that causes extreme freezer burn wounds just through its horrific vocal cycles and a guitar sound that blazes like a brief yet hellish meteorite.

Sure, the introductory narration is a bit corny but after that this 47-minute opus rages like wildfire, almost uncontrollable in its scathing attack as ‘Domiciliary & Despair’ spouts scalding flames from its orifice. It’s primitive black metal I can take or leave with a pinch of salt, but one cannot argue with the terror-stricken yelps throughout this menacing hail of fiery nastiness where Xenormoph yelps “Fucking hatred!” at you like a blast furnace to the cheekbones. This is toxic, speeding, ferocious black metal; no messing about and primal.

On ‘Amphetamous Fornications’ Xenormoph yaps on about “Paupers fat and yellow eyes, Sniffs and drinks and elixirs, Wretched hags spread sullen thighs, Spit and cum fluid mixtures” like a demented poet salivating over the bloodied carcass he’s just dissected to use for his palette. “Orifices gaping wide, Chemicals assist with pain, Relaxing for toxic seed, Unaware in lucid train,” he garbles like a strangled cat, steeping us in sickening and twisted atmospheric supercharged by those hyper guitars and a drum that is simply a primal lashing that leaves whelp marks.

The film samples are, as always, a welcome touch, but they simply act as gateways to hideous flurries of extreme rawness and hostility; even instrumental ‘Omega Doom’ provides little respite as a tirade of hail and biting snowdrifts.

“Great toil… Fucking eternal toil,” the primitive dictator shrieks on ‘Arbeit Macht Hass’ to a soundtrack of clanking bell and doomy escapades, but there’s nothing inviting about this vile mess of scurrying rusty black metal. Thankfully, I’m not one to delve to deep into such matters of extremity, but for disciples of such ear-shredding violence and wicked Rüstwelt is the sort of stark raving haze that’ll toast your tootsies.

I appreciate the effort put in but I find it difficult to rate such a tangled mess of spiky antagonism. Hopefully, Mr Xenomorph will take it as praise then that the review just can’t go beyond that which I’ve given due to such sub-zero bitterness and annihilation.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share