Just out as of a few days ago, Colorado death/doom outfit Spectral Voice's new LP is already a bestseller on Bandcamp at the time of this writing. Nor, after hearing Eroded Corridors of Unbeing for the first time, does this come as a surprise. The furious blastbeats of the death portion are counterbalanced by a huge, cavernous atmosphere filled with oppressive solemnity, bringing to mind Evoken as much as it does Incantation.

Like most metal, the album is best listened to at a high volume, but if you do, you'll want to make sure you have a good subwoofer. The riffing is concentrated at the bottom end, buried down in some murky, swampy pool with a bass that will rattle your fillings, maybe cracking a molar or two while it's about its business. Above it, drummer Eli Wendler's vocals are less a death metal growl and more of an ancient, drawn-out croak, occasionally raising to a shriek -- the voice of the creature haunting the swamp --, to the sound of feedback-screeching guitar solos, played with a haunting solemnity.

In each song, the death portion kicks in eventually and the ponderous riffs pummel the listener at high speed. Visions of Psychic Dismemberment, their longest track, is one of the best examples of their segues from hammering to dragging and back again -- its guitar chords, in particular, have a habit of getting pinched off with a shrieked harmonic just as they would otherwise ring out --, but the others all share in this style in one way or another. The atmosphere on Dissolution, too, is especially good, with a dull, chanting choir backing Wendler and a suspenseful riff towards the end as the track speeds up that's one of the album's best.

Listeners to Finnish death metal will like a lot of what's on here, but extreme and funeral doom fans might also appreciate the abysmal atmosphere too. The riffs alone are probably worth the seven bucks on Bandcamp.

Bandcamp: https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/eroded-corridors-of-unbeing< /a>.