Review: Deus Vermin’s Monument of Decay

Deus Vermin describe themelves as, “black metal-infused death metal from Leeds” and a combination of two such extreme genres always makes me think that PR people might be overcompensating for a band just sounding a bit heavy. Surprisingly, Deus Vermin are about as unfathomably heavy as you could possibly imagine and that description is pretty much on the nose.

Their debut EP Monument to Decay is such a strong start to the band’s career that it sounds like it should be coming after a string of successful releases and not a single 2 track demo. Deus Vermin’s music is so intense and diverse that within a single song it can quickly shift between double-bass drumming, blast beats, tremolo-picked guitar and evil, down-tuned riffs and make it all sound coherent and necessary.

Deus Vermin are quite progressive in this regard and vastly ignore the need for anything like choruses (not that they would have added much in music where the vocals are entirely screamed). Tracks like Iniquity and Worms even have passages that strip back the intensity for a moment to create some really dissonant, creepy atmosphere before launching back into the blast beats. Everything Deus Vermin put forward is so well considered and their execution is so perfect that it flows surprisingly naturally for such a heavy release.

What’s also interesting is the choice of production which manages to keep enough reverb in the mix to make the music sound like it’s being performed live. Death metal in particular normally favours a very clean mix so you can fully appreciate the level of musicianship that goes into creating such technically proficient music, but Deus Vermin give their music a little more edge by choosing a nastier, raw production style.

Monument of Decay by Deus Vermin is quite frankly an incredible start to this band’s career. These 6 tracks are home to some of the most disgustingly vicious death metal and showcase a level of song-writing that clearly proves Deus Vermin are a band bursting with ideas. There doesn’t feel like there’s a single moment of wasted space in these 21 minutes and if that’s a miraculous achievement for such a new band.

10/10

Deus Vermin’s Monument of Decay is out now and available to buy on limited edition cassette from FHED Records.