Inverloch

diSEMBOWELMENT fans may assume that Australia's unsung godfathers of '90s funeral doom are making a comeback in Inverloch, starring founding members Matthew Skarajew (guitar) and Paul Mazziotta (drums). Truth be told, Skarajew and Mazziotta started jamming again in 2004 when they decided to try out some diSEMBOWELMENT tunes. That magic transformed into d.USK, an incarnation dedicated to covering all seven songs from diSEMBOWELMENT's one and only full-length, 1993's Transcendence into the Peripheral. Mixing the maudlin chords of yore with laconic death/grind parts, Inverloch are a slightly different creature that exceed all expectations of this doom redux. All three tracks of Dusk/Subside fade in and out with Thomas Köner-like deep-space washes–honouring Skarajew's ethno-ambient guise in Trial of the Bow – before the heads-down death assaults reign supreme. "Within Frozen Beauty" is a maelstrom of death/black metal, sporting an Alex Lifeson-esque guitar solo halfway through. The Evoken-esque "The Menin Road" is slower doom that pays tribute to their diS-anthropic ways, while "Shadows of the Flame" continues said gloom with intriguing blackened spurts. Reinforced by their reunion with long-time label Relapse, all doom aficionados are keeping their fingers crossed that Inverloch don't transcend into the peripheral like their groundbreaking predecessors.