Lavel- Unique Leader Records
Release Date- 11 February 2022
Words- Tony Bliss
Making their return a rather tardy eight years after 2014’s ‘Evolving Towards Extinction’, Swiss three piece Near Death Condition have clearly not been sitting idle all this time. Indeed, on the evidence of ‘Ascent From The Mundane’, the band have been ruthlessly honing their traditional yet distinctive death metal to a scalpel keen edge, whilst at the same time mutating subtly into something all the more otherworldly and perverse.
Evidently in debt to the time-honoured muscular churn of Morbid Angel, Immolation et al, opening track ‘Witness Of The Martyr’ is pitched between resolutely old-school brutality and the inky-black discord of the underground's more atmospheric death dealers, whereas the likes of ‘Wisdom Of Meaninglessness’ and ‘The Bridal Chamber’ plunge even further into the unknown, doffing their caps to nigh on Ulercate rivalling levels of sonic weirdness. It is this streak of abyss conjuring horror that marks a welcome creative and dynamic shift for the band, and as the record plays out there is a real sense that these nine songs, whilst aglow with the rampaging hellfire underlying all great death metal, could take a left turn at any second.
We need look no further than the title track for evidence of this. With some crazed tempo-leaps, the dissonant strangeness of black metal and a terrifying, descent-into-madness final minute, it’s a wilfully fucked up yet exhilirating thrill ride. The fact that the album bows out on a piano tinkering interlude and eerie synth led curio only re-confirms that Near Death Condition are more than happy to toss out the rulebook and dip into a more expansive well of nasty ideas, whilst still lopping-limbs and taking heads with their fiery and focused extreme metal ulra-violence. Gripping stuff.
8/10
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