Sentient Horror
Ungodly Forms
(Redefining Darkness / Testimony)
Remember the first time you pulled up a rock and found that mysterious, subterranean environment in the soil belly, albino beetles and white musty cobwebs and mold the smell of which made your stomach turn? That’s what listening to Ungodly Forms by New Jersey death/thrash metal band Sentient Horror feels like in a nutshell, an untimely revelation of fetid stench and a new, sickeningly appealing darkness.
I was loath to highly recommend Ungodly Forms on the first spin, that is, until the last few tracks on the record. The band successfully harvests every gruesome, grime streaked death metal motif with aplomb, but there are few moments that would really point to a unique stance. Little on the first half stands as progressive; Sentient Horror can feel, while wholly competent and expertly produced, a little ordinary. They offer a bit of curious instrumentation, like on “Blood Rot” which is bewitchingly wild but somehow remains contained. Their songs are for the most part longer, filled with fully conceived ideas that are well written. The interludes of guitar melody, like “Splinter The Cross” and the title track, are interesting and they never ever relent on the punishing riffs, set against a flurry of downright apocalyptic percussion.
It’s pretty good, but nothing special, until…
As a showcase of Sentient Horror’s depth and progressive bend, the end three track sequence from the death growl laden, bone crushing “Of Filth & Flesh” to the harrowing instrumental “Mourning” that gives way to a frothing mess of thrash, “Celestial Carnage” is one of the better stretches of death metal in recent albums. I’d grab a listen of the whole album just for a crack at these songs. A few times, the instrumental brought my imagination back to the 70’s era; the latter feels like it could fit on Master Of Puppets or any early Metallica. These songs capably broach the album’s supposed larger concept, decay of the body and slow ceding of the sense of self over to the inevitable encroachment of the elements. It is a hostile world out there. Once that stone is pulled back, it’s hard not to want to crawl away and escape, but you can’t.
