Review: “Adorned In Ruin” by Golgothan Remains

Holding an unforgiving World to rights with their own brand of Death Metal since their 2016 self titled demo walked from the undergrowth that surrounds the Australian Underground scene and announced itself, Golgothan Remains obliterated all expectations when their 2018 debut full length “Perverse Offerings to the Void” was met with critical acclaim. A monster of a record with a modern edge and yet a timelessness about it that is hard to capture, it set the bar for the band and laid the gauntlet down for others to better if they dared. It should be no surprise then that for their sophomore record “Adorned In Ruin” the band returned to the team that helped make that a resounding success of overpowering dissonance and timeless brutality that crosses the swords of Death and Black Metal with Aaron Worboys at Adversary Studios recording and mixing before mastered by Brad Boatright (Altarage, Vastum, Downpresser) at Audioseige Studios.

The four horsemen of the apocalypse are Matt Hillman (Guitars), Adam Martin (Bass), Matthieu Van den Brande (Vocals) and Aled Powell (Drums) and the purveyors of Blackened Death Metal have returned to bring famine and plague to the World, reducing it to a barren wasteland and leave it Adorned In Ruin. Bone rattling pulverising rhythmic pounding and cavernous dissonant guitars build atmosphere while the hostile larynx threatening vocals provide for a white hot intensity of pure sinister brooding and cutting vitriol. “Veneration of Carnal Blasphemy” has a couple of moments where Van den Brande howls like a man impaled while “Wandering Through Chambers of Deathlike Void” offers a spoken word moment to drive down the darkness for a fleeting moment and in an age where the avant-garde have risen to prominence, the direct punch in the face of Golgothan Remains as harsh and brutal as it is, is actually a refreshing one. Sonically, the mix is kept deliberately on the muddy side with a thick warm bass tone against the backdrop of those high octane drum patterns that help convey a sense of frenetic chaos that rises up like an ocean to meet the psychotic lyrical overtones like a clash of monolithic beasts. Slick tempo shifts make “The Malign Hordes of Abhorrence” a stand out, it’s rise and fall helping build that sense of foreboding and oppressive darkness while those almost inhuman vocals continue to raise the hairs on the back of your neck like the unexpected brutal bark of a large dog in the silence of dead of night. In the guitar work there are fleeting moments that are reminiscent of albums like “A Lethal Dose Of American Hatred” by Superjoint Ritual and there are similarities in the sense of chaos and raw feel between the records if nothing else, as if the band are playing together in a rehearsal room while the record is being recorded rather than laying down separate parts. It’s caustic, corrosive and down right heavy, tearing a page from the book of Dead Congregation or even Incantation in the process [7/10]

Track listing

1. Veneration of Carnal Blasphemy
2. A Shrouded Longing for Promethean Fire
3. Wandering Through Chambers of Deathlike Void
4. Opulent Incarnation of Persevering Torment
5. The Malign Hordes of Abhorrence
6. Forgotten Lores of Hatred and Bloodshed
7. …Of Morbid Blood and Serpent Skins
8. Void II: Towards the Joyless Elysium
9. On Lifeless Wings of Malice

“Adorned In Ruin” by Golgothan Remains is out via Brilliant Emperor Records & Sentient Ruin Laboratories on 1st April 2022 with pre-orders available over at bandcamp.