Terminus Episode 127 - Impetuous Ritual, Khanate, Abraded

Consistency? I'm not familiar with a band by that name. Here on Terminus we refuse to color inside the lines of show structure, and so we have a big ol' 2021 style episode for you- or, most of the way. We were supposed to cover 4 records but then our computers exploded so we've just got 3, but never fear, we'll have more expanded Terminus Double Stuf episodes coming to make up for it. The theme for today? Being really ugly and weird and gross.

First up: new Impetuous Ritual. One of a triumvirate of Australian noise-ridden black/death bands (the others being Portal and Grave Upheaval,) IR concentrates on pure force delivered through inscrutable yet detailed riffing, dynamic, ever-morphing rhythms, and an expansive soundscape owing to the deep and resonant yet cluttered and noisy production. Beneath the chaos, though, lies the bones of a black metal band deeply invested in second wave traditions and even a pagan flair, pointing to a future potentially even stranger than the present.

Next is the surprise return of extreme doom/noise/free improv/Wiggles cover band Khanate with their first new material in 14 years. A perennial favorite of TDMG, Khanate is a band to which few immediate comparisons can be made, creating a sort of torture doom out of exclusively non-metal parts. "To Be Cruel" is an endurance test, sure, but it's also a deep exploration of intensely personal human misery, where minimal yet highly detailed compositions sketch out delicate shades of negative emotion in a way few bands can match.

Finally we arrive at the second record by Abraded, an Ohio death metal outfit which rejects the Maggot Stomp style which dominates much of the state in favor of something stranger. Drawing on a range of influences from Impetigo to the Razorback bands and possibly even GBK/Arghoslent, Abraded play death metal in the spirit of the late 80s, without established rules w/r/t timbre, song structure, aesthetic coherency, etc. Post-thrash chug riffs and sprawling prog rock solos not-so-peacefully coexist with frothing goregrind vocals and bizarre synth backing- really, no review is a replacement for listening to this thing.

0:00:00 - Intro

0:03:17 - Impetuous Ritual - Iniquitous Barbarik Synthesis (Profound Lore)

0:52:36 - Interlude - Averse Sefira - “Helix in Audience” fr. Tetragrammatical Astygmata (Evil Horde Records, 2005)

1:00:51 - Khanate - To Be Cruel (Sacred Bones Records)

1:55:57 - Interlude - Black Sheep Wall - “Tetsuo: The Dead Man” fr. I’m Going to Kill Myself (Season of Mist, 2015)

2:05:40 - Abraded - Unadulterated Perversity (Aggressively Uninterested - US, Selfmadegod - Europe)

2:37:28 - Outro - Macabre - “Hitchhiker” fr. Dahmer (Hammerheart Records, 2000)

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