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CAST THE STONE
Empyrean Atrophy EP

Agonia (2018)
Rating: 8/10

Featuring members Andrew Huskey (vocals), Mark Kloeppel (guitar, Misery Index / Scour), Derek Engemann (bass, Scour / ex-Cattle Decapitation), and Jesse Schobel (drums, ex-Scour), Cast The Stone – who formed in 2002 – has been a rather inactive band whose last record, debut full-length offering Dark Winds Descending, emerged in 2005.

Empyrean Atrophy is the new EP which boasts six tracks, the closing song being a cover of the Infestdead tune ‘JesuSatan’; a blistering piece of work with choppy vocal burps and pummelling aggression, the leads squirm in maniacal Slayer fashion while the rest of the composition hurries with intensity – flapping furiously towards an early 90s Swedish-cum-U.S. death metal sound.

That’s where Cast The Stone sits; aggressively tuning into that fiendish maelstrom whereby bruising yet catchy segments of mid-tempo drudgery slip into flashing, furious bouts of buzzsaw carnage.

Opening track ‘As The Dead Lie’ chugs with melodious moodiness, the oppressive weight of the guitar sound crushing the bones like a boa constrictor as Jesse Schobel’s dense skin slams run in terrifying tandem with the belligerent bass licks of Engemann. It’s punishing death metal with a strong melodic vein, but always remaining heavy; riffs twist in occasional perverse flecks before occasional flecks of darker, progressive strains are detected.

‘The Burning Horizon’ signals such advanced dabbling, the technicality fused with brutality an admirable marrying as sprays of Dissection and Edge Of Sanity leak in through those grandiose meanderings. It’s certainly the pivotal moment of the EP, steadily building with deep, hammering grooves and utterly fiendish yet at times melancholic strains.

‘Standing In The Shadows’ – the shortest track on offer – builds with a wistful acoustic guitar and remains that way. Stark and haunting as an instrumental, ‘Standing In The Shadows’ acts as a subtle precursor to the vicious churns of ‘A Plague Of Light’; an all-out head-crusher of speed. Again, there’s that guttural yet raw Swedish influence but caked in the vocal and guitar sound with those old school American influences. Dan Swanö’s production comes to the fore, particularly on the more majestic gallop which unexpectedly emerges at the 1:18 mark, the tracking slipping into even catchier dimensions and more so at the 1:45 point where we get a reflective, progressive and darker stance to proceedings.

And then the title track; this one begins as a juddering chainsaw, oil spilling from its nuts and bolts, with the blade only just remaining in place as those deep, guttural vocalisations command attention. With this one, the riff just pummels. The choppy groove is something that Rogga Johansson (Paganizer / Ribspreader etc.) would be proud of, the combo creating deep gouges and troubling waves of infected rhythms, building towards such devastating crescendos before slowing down the tempo to a mid-paced act of bludgeoning.

It’s impossible then not to be hurt and happy with this dense, rattling, spine-breaker of a record that effectively bridges the gap between the then and now of death metal, but with those sporadic shades of progression. Cast the stone? More like bounce the boulder!

Neil Arnold

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