Triverse Massacre – Hades

By RingMaster Review on May 25, 2017 • ( 0 )

Taking the listener by the throat down the five rivers encircling its underworld, Hades is the new EP from British metallers Triverse Massacre and the hellacious outpouring of the potential first bred in their previous releases. Back in 2014, the With Bared Teeth And Truths EP suggested that the band had the wares to make a potent impact on the British metal scene; Hades is that mighty trespass but one still hinting of greater things yet to come.

Bursting from the depths of Carlisle in 2010, Triverse Massacre quickly stirred up local support and in turn within the metal underground crowd with the release of debut EP In The Jaws Of Deceit. It was a growing reputation equally fuelled by their ferocious live presence which has gone on to see the band earn strong praise and share stages since with the likes of Skindred, Raging Speedhorn, Aliases, The Sun Explodes, The Colour Line, Reign Of Fury, and Anihilated and play Bloodstock Open Air last year alongside Slayer, Behemoth, Mastodon, and Gojira. With Bared Teeth and Truths provoked more concentrated attention and awareness of the band and their ravenous fusion of death, groove, and thrash metal; an incendiary mix now truly igniting within Hades.

The release opens up with Cocytus, an instrumental of imposing grandeur and looming shadows creating the climate you would expect surrounding the domain and god of the underworld. Guitars eventually encroach on the deceitful grace of the air creating a link to waiting venomous jaws as the track flows into the predacious animosity and corrosive depths of Styx. As the guitars of James Graham and Chris Kelsall gnaw and taunt the senses with riffs and grooves, vocalist Liam Stark descends and invades with his raw and potent mix of attacks, the frontman as the sound around him openly showing a growth in snarl and dexterity since that last EP. The guitars continue to weave a web of creative deceit, lures of infectious and seductive design woven to violate while the biting beats of Mike Collins and the tenebrific lines of bassist Jason McEwan have nothing in mind except merciless trespass.

It is a mighty and increasingly gripping track still slightly outshone though by next up Acheron. With grooves swinging from its first breath and contagious irritability coating every note and raw throated expulsion, the track unleashes the most virulent strain of toxic rock ‘n’ roll. The band’s sound has fully escaped any confines of extreme metal tagging, the third track epitomising its adventure and maturity and especially its rudely addictive quality forcing full submission to its rancor.

Lethe is simply bestial; a vicious harrying of the senses. Every element of its twisted body and intent is delicious harassment, grooves swarming through ears as rhythms advance with horde like barbarity. Within the tempest though, as across all tracks, there is a melodic prowess which accentuates rather than tempers the pernicious infestation but equally spotlights the instinctive craft breeding the envenomed imagination and onslaught on offer.

The EP closes with Phelegethon, arguably the biggest intrusive nagging of the senses of them all and quite possibly our favourite though that honour is consistently shared with its two predecessors. It is a stirring end though with the guitars a viperish incursion and rhythms a bold and numbing incitement as Stark crawls and lurches over the senses and psyche with vocal glands spilling malevolence in varying shades.

With Hades, Triverse Massacre has presented itself to the main table of extreme metal but as the EP thrills you still get the sense that the band is nowhere close to depleting its creative depths. That suggests very potent horizons for the quintet and for our beleaguered ears alongside them.

The Hades EP is released May 26^th @ https://triversemassacre.bandcamp.com/ or http://triversemassacre.bigcartel.com/