PALUS SOMNI

Monarch Of Dark Matter BLACKSEED PRODUCTIONS

Black metal cosmonauts conspire to tear the universe asunder

Palus Somni combine guitarist Stroda of UK industrial black metal band Decoherence with Akhlys drummer Eoghan and the incomprehensible screams of vocalist Imber. The goal: cosmic chaos. Opener

Monarch Of Dark Matter tears a rend in the space-time continuum. It’s an explosion of fervent drums, noxious riffing and screams that sound like distant echoes from a torturous realm.

Igneos Solis’s anxietyinducing slow build leads to eruption, the kick drum alone triggering coronal mass ejection, while there’s a grandiose element to

Sidus Ludoviciana. Chained To The North Star’s roughhewn deconstructions and

Unholy Cosmic Quintessence’s atmospheric meanderings both end in piledriving intensity, typifying an experience dizzying in its apoplectic blurring of sonic and perceptual boundaries. ■■■■■■■■■■

FOR FANS OF: Emperor, Aosoth, Mare Cognitum

TOM O’BOYLE

close, repeated listening. The opening trio of

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Agonizing Subjection offer little more than familiar old-school dynamics, but the Dutch five-piece hit their stride with the brutal groove of Six Times A Charm,

which recalls both Obituary circa World Demise and peak Pantera. The track also demonstrates a semiconcealed penchant for experimentation with its eerie ambient interlude suspended midway through. The second half of the album is a considerable improvement on the first, the churning Destined Between The Eyes and the brief, mellow Pseudoscience

– where the ambient inclinations of Six Times A Charm are explored more substantially – proving late but lingering highlights.

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FOR FANS OF: Immolation, Obituary, Morbid Angel JOSEPH STANNARD