PESTILENGTH
Cryptic black/death metal enigma Pestilength emerged in the Bilbao area of Spain’s Basque Region around 2019 by the will of mysterious drummer N, and of local and equally enigmatic guitarist/vocalist and abstract visual artist M.. The band initially self-released a string of raw, chaotic demos and singles of lo-fi inscrutable and demented domed black-death metal throughout 2019 and 200, generating considerable interest in the Spanish underground with their nebulous and murky sound churning with hallucinations ubound and reminescent of bands like Portal, Antediluvian or Impetuous Ritual. But the peculiar trait which instantly set Pestilgenth aside from its peers was the use of a mysterious and unseen form of presumably invented pseudolanguage the band used for their undecipherable lyrics and song titles. An aberrant and rarely before seen experiment in self-conceptualization blending deviant linguistics and abstract extreme metal, where the ritualistic deciphering of old English in unorthodox ways to create new allomorphs and lexical absurdities had become custom for the band to use as their own symbolism and iconography. Meanwhile, through a refinement in production, the music was catching up to the outlandish and elaborate uniqueness of the band’s concept, brining a sharpening of the band’s sound which in turn brought forth a more intense and intricate approach to songwriting. The hazy dissonant murk from their beginnings was shed in favor of a more muscular and twisted form of dark mutant death metal which came to light with their 2020 debut album “Eilatik”, and furthermore sublimated and ascended to imposing heights on their masterful 2022 sophomore full-length album “Basom Gryphos” (released on CD and tape by Nuclear Winter that year, and on vinyl in collaboration with Sentient Ruin the following year), a release which by now was placing Pestilgenth on the same reality-bending syslitic violence and hallucinatory intensity of bands like Immolation and Morbid Angel.