Track Review: “Hyphae Reign” by Existentia

Twelve months after their debut EP “Calculating Failure” surfaced from the black depths, Philadelphia Pennsylvanian Technical Death Metal Plague born trio Existentia have returned, armed for the apocalypse with a new single titled “Hyphae Reign“. In between times they’ve shared stages with Cognitive, Hath and Aversed to name but a few, sharpening their blades in the live arena before returning to their cave dwelling to ink another poison pen letter… the only question being can drummer and vocalist Jacob Nunn (ex-Bataan Death March, ex-Polemicist), guitarist Ross Huber and bassist Mike Sorensen (ex-Abysmal Gates, ex-Angel of Fire) deliver something that lives up to to fan favourite “Artifice Hallucination“?

The answer to that is a short, sharp shock of a resounding yes as the band continue to walk where Gods fear to tread while producing fretboard smouldering riffs a plenty. Those are laced with a sinister and menacing edge as they fly free around the lyrical narrative that finds Nunn spitting blood with a throat shredding vocal which provides that mental image of a vein or two popping during a performance. As with the EP that came before it, the kit performance is nothing short of immense with some clever fills accompanied by jackhammer footwork and moments of blasting, but this is by no means style over substance. The bass hits like a bullet ricochet in the skull while at the same time the whole track feels like the band have refined in the fire what they do, all of which bodes well for the debut full length titled “Tear In The Tether To Sanity” in 2023… [8.5/10]

“Hyphae Reign” by Existentia is out now and available over at bandcamp.