Devil Ancestry - At the Seat of Evil Ecstasy DEMO (2012)

Though Australians Devil Ancestry possess some overt parallels to the creeping, cavernous brand of old school death metal pageantry currently ruling the roost of the underground, their approach is admittedly quite charismatic and bizarre. One will hear a seasoning of Portal, some Demilich, perhaps even a fraction of Gorguts' uncanny Obscura, but this trio approaches the conflagration with such a unique sense of drudging simplicity that I found myself repeatedly listening through this second demo At the Seat of Evil Ecstasy with some approximation of both fear and wonder, confusion and understanding. My only regret was, at under 9 minutes, there just wasn't more to immerse myself into...

Devil Ancestry's sense of composition is spongy and lugubrious. Colon rupturing, low-tuned guitars dance across a mix of sluggish chords, chugging dissonance and bursting alienation, while the bass tones of the recording are broad, swerving and pungent. The primary vocals are intensely guttural, perhaps not so froglike as Antti Boman or as brute as a Craig Pillard, but still dark as all fuck, often set to echo unnervingly through the subterranean strides of the instruments. They season these with a cleaner timbre that proves just as disturbing, as if you were creeping through a solitary confinement ward at your local asylum around midnight, and all the drugged occupants were cyphering their reactions to chemical torments as you passed their cells. In addition, the band will also throw in some organ sounds and other frightening aspects to create a funereal pall to the otherworldly proceedings, especially in the closer "Curious Potion" which is borne on slowly bouncing, death/doom elements.

The drums in places feel a little crushed by the sheer weight of the squamous guitar tones, and I'll reiterate that I felt like several of the tracks were just too short to really lose oneself in. I'd love to hear the madness this trio could concoct within the span of a 5-6 minute track, since I can't imagine it would ever hinge on boredom. But as its presented, a song like "Keeper" will only start to burrow its tendrils into your brain before loosing you back to the nether. Granted, considering the brevity of this, there is quite a lot of range, from muted blast beats to wild scaling bass/guitar cycles, double bass bombardments and even sequences where the guitar will drop out ("The Rib of Adam Created Shit") and leave the ghastly vocals, bass and drums to carry the crawling terror. Devil Ancestry is compelling, chilling, and frankly I want more of it.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://www.myspace.com/devilancestry