Corpsessed – Succumb to Rot (Review)

Corpsessed are a Finnish death metal band and this is their third album, (or fourth, depending on your perspective).

I do so enjoy Corpsessed’s material, (check out 2014’s Abysmal Thresholds and 2018’s Impetus of Death). Four years after their last release, regular as rotten clockwork, they have returned with new platter Succumb to Rot. This release features the band’s most colourful artwork, as well as their shortest running time, (36 minutes).

One of the things I’ve always liked about Corpsessed is their ability to blend crushing heaviness with grim atmospheric detail, and they’re still able to do this better than most on Succumb to Rot. The doom elements in their sound are as foul and horrifying as normal, yet streamlined somewhat, as this new material is more direct and brutal than much of the band’s past work, (hence the shorter running time). Don’t worry though; if you liked the malevolent doomy atmospheres of their previous albums, it’s still here in more than enough virulent quantities to satisfy.

Dark of mood and filthy of riff, these songs are nasty and hostile pieces of work. Wrapped up tight in eerie melodies and scarred by monstrous growls, the core of the music is pure 90s-influenced death metal carnage. The songwriting is concise and professional, yet lacks nothing in beastly passion or daemonic bite. Tracks like Spiritual Malevolence really capture the atmospheric side of the band in all of its terrifying glory, whereas others such as Death-Stench Effluvium showcase the increased levels of aggression and brutality that this new album has. All of the songs are of a high quality, and it’s hard to pick highlights, although I do particularly enjoy the back-to-back hit of Sublime Indignation and wonderfully-titled Profane Phlegm.

On Succumb to Rot Corpsessed’s malignant death metal is undead and very well. The music’s slight change of direction seems to have simply refined what already worked for the band so well, and these new songs are a great addition to Corpsessed’s arsenal.

Succumb to Rot is a very satisfying and enjoyable slab of morbid death metal.

Very highly recommended.