Brand-new extreme metal outfit Herxheim produces a primitive mess of an album with an eerie synth in the background. It's got blackened vocals, but the sound is death metal, the riffs drowning and thrashing around in a tar pit that seeks to swallow them whole.

The sound is dirty, with screams echoing in the background over the sound of the nearly ever-present synth chords. The guitars and a rubbery bassline are mixed up with each other, getting in each other's way before being blasted apart by Brungard's shrieks. Though the riffing seems dissonant and undisciplined, there is some subtlety behind the relentless sonic abuse you receive, and clever use of layering lets the murky atmosphere attain a depth that doesn't immediately spring to the ear at first. There's a little bit of old-time Hellhammer in the way the riffs are dragged out to doomy extent, only to snap back into a thrashing beat without letting the listener ever get too comfortable.

Incised Arrival is definitely for those who prefer the noisy, primitive vibe of extreme metal's origins. Its lo-fi recording and tacked-on synth backgrounds recall early black metal, but its chaotic delivery is all its own.

Bandcamp: https://herxheim.bandcamp.com/album/incised-arrival-lp.