Spilling the Secrets of Demo-Tape Death Metal – 91%
Mercyful Trouble, March 28th, 2021
Written based on this version: 2018, CD, Dark Descent Records
Ambition has been, and will continue to be, a quality that sets more involved and serious up-and-coming artists apart from their more casual peers, but it is especially important when the artist’s craft is focused on authenticity. This is why Denmark/Turkey’s Hyperdontia, originally formed as a super-group containing alumni from the Dark Descent Records death metal scene, have set themselves apart from numerous other bands inspired by the rawer, more rotten side of 90’s death metal. Not only have they consistently kept our hunger for audible repugnance satiated with a few of cherry-on-top releases in the span of just a couple years, but listening to their 2018 full-length debut entitled Nexus of Teeth reveals a technically marvelous side of this generally cryptic and unnerving fare.
Really, it’s as if their songwriting ambition coupled with their years of experience in writing and playing death metal has blessed them with an infallible momentum that repeatedly nails the sound and atmosphere down to a sickening science. Mustafa, the riff dealer and head of this project, is somewhat parallel to Trey Azagthoth of Morbid Angel fame in this ambitious sense, wanting very clearly to “destroy everybody” as Trey did circa Altars of Madness. Parallels to the FLDM gods end there, however, because ultimately, Nexus of Teeth hones all the subtle tricks of Scandinavian oddities from Demilich to Depravity with a surprising (obviously modern) clarity to the sound, sort of making the winding, grime-covered labyrinth of their tremolo riffs echoing with David Torturdod’s low gutturals slightly more navigable. Yet, this is counterbalanced by the fact that the compositions themselves take the technical aspect to the next level, due in no small part of Mustafa’s guitar mastery, allowing Hyperdontia to tightrope between rotten caveman death metal and NY-inspired dissodeath. This makes them a notable oddity themselves, any individual segment of their cuts feeling like a putrefying road somewhere inside the bowels of endlessness.
Is Hyperdontia’s full-length more accessible than other “cavernous”, slime-ridden death metal? Sort of. Like when I first heard Undergang in 2017 or ’18 with Misantropologi, the music was like trudging through a dark sewer, but when the vocals came in, I knew I’d encountered the malevolent entity inhabiting the sewer. It was like “shit, man!” and it gave me that sense of “oh, it’s too late to turn back now…”, whereas the more technical, less sludgy (but still very fucking heavy and crushing) riffs of Hyperdontia feel more like being disemboweled by an egg-beater, as I often say, but they’re catchier too. The blast beats and semi-dissonant tremolo riffing are a very relentless attack, and the muddy guitar and bass tone will make sure your body festers after the music adequately eviscerates you, since it leaves an atmospheric aftertaste in the same way Depravity’s Silence of the Centuries does. Slower segments are to be heard here and there, (“Of Spire and Thorn” especially) breaking up the relentless (even a bit thrashy) riff onslaught with sustained power chords and eerie melodies. “Euphoric Evisceration” is a change of pace, offering somewhat less battering riffing for more of a clear, driving punch. “Aura of Flies”, meanwhile, feels the most like it could be from a 7″ released in the early 90’s, since it’s slightly lighter on the technical intricacies, offering a bit more conventional bludgeoning power-chord action you might expect from the Left Hand Path title track.
Hyperdontia’s Nexus of Teeth will appeal to just about any type of death metal fan who’s not a wimp. If you like Immolation’s dissonance, Abhorrence’s abhorrence, Demilich’s winding-ness, Incantation’s atmosphere, Bolt Thrower’s momentum, and whatever else the DM gods have to offer, you’ll get down with Nexus of Teeth. Moreover, it’s quite the culmination of the tendencies of cryptic death metal demos of the previous century, proving that Mustafa and co. have studied this music and mastered it. I like it when I hear a debut album and somehow know the next one will be even better. Hyperdontia are headed for rancid places, and I don’t think the guys would have it any other way.
rafazardly 