Dearth lull you into a false sense of security on “Death Sown in Polluted Soil,” or at least its opening. It’s ominous but not directly threatening until the strings bend and the latter portion of their black/death cocktail explodes.
There’s a difference in blackened death metal when compared to a fusion of black and death metal. The former, like its neatly packaged name, is often less offputting. It’s almost sleek and presentable, which is the opposite of what Dearth deliver on debut LP To Crown All Befoulment.
Their black metal influence buck tradition akin to heretics Deathspell Omega and Antaeus. Death metal drawings come from the pre-cursor to the recent wave of old school death metal and even THEIR pre-cursors. Acts like Dead Congregation and Incantation exemplify the ugly sounds.
It turns out the lyrics are similarly bleak according to guitarist/vocalist Connor Allen.
“The track is a manifestation of a series of night terrors I experienced around the time it was written. These involved the Earth’s groundwater becoming so severely polluted and acidified that humanity’s food supply became an inadvertent poison, forcing one to choose between starvation or self-poisoning. The music is an embodiment of the horror within such a dilemma.”
Bassist/vocalist Zach Gilliam expands on the music side of things.
“This was the first song that we brought into being as a complete band after releasing the initial demo and filling out our lineup. It thoroughly represents Dearth’s vision to me: a caustic dirge for the last of humankind’s dignity as we’re left scrabbling in the dirt of our self-inflicted wasteland.”
Experience that feeling via the player below.
Pre-order To Crown All Befoulment via Sentient Ruin Laboratories here. It’s out on vinyl, cassette and digitally June 19.
