Vulvodynia – Praenuntius Infiniti (Review)

This is the fourth album from South African death metallers Vulvodynia.

After 2016’s Psychosadistic Design and 2019’s Mob Rules, it’s great to once more be exposed to Vulvodynia’s brand of deathcore-laced brutal slamming death metal. There’s a whopping 57-minutes of violent content on Praenuntius Infiniti. Although I was initially concerned about this, as that length is a bit of a push for this sort of punishing material, it turns out that the band have done their best to make good use of the time.

The main foundation of the band remains rhythmic destruction, colossally heavy breakdowns, and destructive blast beats, but more and more these are being built upon by increasingly skilled artisans using high quality materials and master crafted tools. In other words, Vulvodynia know what they’re about, and their output is getting more accomplished with every outing.

These new songs are brutal and nasty, but are also more than just this. The band’s mix of brutal death metal, slam, and deathcore has been further expanded on Praenuntius Infiniti. As such, greater influence from the technical and melodic death metal styles can be felt, both of which add to the band’s core brutality and heaviness in worthwhile ways.

There’s more of an atmospheric presence this time too, which is not something I thought I’d be saying of a Vulvodynia album. Keyboard enhancements are used well across the music for example, as is the occasional deployment of orchestral elements. The very effective use of guitar solos, leads, and melodic weight contribute to this too.

All of the above ingredients help to ensure that Praenuntius Infiniti is relatively diverse for this sort of thing. Different songs, (or parts of songs), emphasis different aspects of the band’s ever-increasing skillset, allowing them to successfully hold the listener’s attention throughout the album’s ambitious duration. Further adding to this is the range of guests that the album boasts, from current and ex-members of bands such as Pathology, Archspire, Viscera, Disentomb, and more besides.

Praenuntius Infiniti is a mighty slab of very enjoyable extremity. Vulvodynia continue to evolve and push themselves to bring their best to their work. Alongside trying out a few new tricks to their trade, the band have successfully realised their most ambitious release yet.

Very highly recommended.