Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire

Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire are as bleak as their name suggests and sophomore LP Visceral is just that: one big bad touch of visceral grind/sludge that's also an experiment in abstraction, where undifferentiated noise meets the experience of a physical barrage. The musical equivalent of a Sarah Kane play, Visceral is both a horrifying and intriguing assault on the senses that satisfies if you're in the mood for extreme, almost inhuman metal. Ethan McCarthy's vocals remove the need to understand the lyrics; his unrelenting, bestial growl conveys a sense of doom that actual words can't capture. The release is a series of highs and lows, switching between explosions of speed and an apocalypse of lurching, slow riffs. Visceral begins with "---," a minute of being trapped in a sonic abyss, before the album's proper opener, "Lower Than Life, High as the Sky." Doing justice to its manic name, "Lower Than Life, High as the Sky" features uncontrollable blast beats giving way to a deadly breakdown that decomposes with each note. The rest of the album is similar fare, all bordering on insanity, or at least some sort of severe break with humanity. Visceral will definitely arouse your interest if you're looking for new horizons of extreme metal and glorious doom.