Doomsday

Pressing play on Doomsday feels a lot like opening the doors to a blast furnace: a sudden, overwhelming wall of heat hits you and doesn't let up. At barely over 20 minutes, this self-titled, blackened and crusted death metal debut shows mercy only in its brevity. Four of the five band members have served time in Nachtmystium, which translates into the record's blackened, brimstone-reeking guitar tone and relentless pace. The dominant texture of the album, however, is a thick, filthy crust element that makes every song seem to drip rust and corrosion. Most of the tracks are defined by a savage, primal violence, embodied best in album closer (and G.G. Allin cover) "I Kill Everything I Fuck," but there is a moment of bleakness in "Empty Vessel" that's not a respite as much as a shift of perspective, the one time the record moves from vicious agency to furious reflection. This is a baleful, rancid debut that arrives like a whirlwind and leaves the listener similarly wondering what just happened to them.