There is literally nothing nice about Descending Flesh, the first album from Belgian terrors Vvovnds.
And as fans of Converge’s brilliantly brutal Jane Doe – clearly an influence here – will attest, a relentless trip into darkness with no hint of light at the end of the tunnel can be a wonderful thing.
Atonal, chaotic, constructed from a rumbling, sludgy, non-more-black drone, shards of indecipherable noise and gnashing vocals so rusty you need a tetanus jab after listening to them, this is uncompromising in its sheer nastiness.
They take a moment to breathe on the dour The Light, a doomy, atmospheric moment of introspection that sounds like frontman Jenci Vervaeke is trying to physically chew the demons out of the pit of his own, tortured stomach.
It seems he fails, though, as the following Coins amps up the tempo once again, the flailing drums tripping over themselves, dragging howls of feedback and Vervaeke’s raw screams behind them like a bolting horse of the apocalypse. It’s horrible. You’ll like it.
