Since this Atlanta blackened-death quartet released its 2010 LP Dualitas half of its lineup has changed. Departing guitarist Dylan Kilgore was replaced by Ethan McCarthy of Primitive Man, and bassist Mike Longoria passed the torch to Colin Marston, who’s played in an impressive list of bands that includes Behold the Arctopus, Dysrhythmia, and Gorguts. So is there still much continuity between last year’s Grief Relic (Seasons of Mist) and Dualitas? Yes. The latter certainly wasn’t as weird as its predecessor, Folie Circulaire—instead it streamlined the band’s attack while greasing and growling it up. And Grief Relic is even more satisfyingly gnarly. The opening track, “Leathery Rind,” gives a brutal introduction to what you’ll be gnawing on for the rest of the record, which eventually settles into a mostly eldritch black-doom hybrid that lurches and chugs and occasionally explodes in your face. v
Atlanta’s Withered fashion a black/doom hybrid on last year’s gnarly Grief Relic
