Trog – Horrors Beyond
Release Date: 28th June 2024
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Old School Death Metal, Groove, Thrash.
FFO: Tomb Mold, Artificial Brain, Tribal Gaze, Phobophilic, Reeking Aura, Mortuous, Death.
Review By: Rick Farley
Trog (formerly Troglorot) was horrifically birthed in 2019. The bands current line-up, solidified in late 2021 when guitarist TJ Coon (Sentient Horror) joined the ranks alongside drummer Hudson Barth (Reeking Aura), guitarist/bassist Dan Erdenberger (ex-Cypher Seer), and vocalist Pete Colucci (Apocrophex Gukurahundi) are set to release their self-released full length debut Horrors Beyond. The band’s first EP Of Vomit Reborn was released in July 2022 generating a good amount of buzz for this New Jersey band.
On Horrors Beyond, copious amounts of grossly toned deadly riffs spew out in thick chunks like acidic stomach bile. Scorching and laying waste to your innards as it exits your body. Unrelenting thrash and twisting death metal combine with oozes of fiery black metal style tremolo picking and enough heavy groove that could easily level a building, forming a sickening take on classic death metal ramped up to kill on contact. Slinky basslines click and clack under the chaotically catchy rhythms with a beefy low end. The drums hit like bricks. Intense, powerful, and utterly destroying. From blast beats, double bass to sick grooves and thrashy d-beats, the percussion sets the mood for the record to relentless and punishing. Definitely a highlight. The coarse gutturals bellow out, accenting the pummelling music like maggots feeding on a rotting corpse, the two just belong together.
Trog does an excellent job of throwing in bits of melody to the hungry thrashy death metal, like feeding small animals to an alien overlord. One track that comes to mind is The Void. It’s speedy, and hammering, but there are flourishes of memorable guitar melody lines and hooks throughout that highlight the heaviness of the track. A total headbanger that will slither into your ear and stay there for days. Thematically, The Void is about “being disgusted with the human form and reaching a higher consciousness because of it, dematerializing the flesh vessel, and ascending to the next realm as nothing but a ray of light.”
Ritual Corpse Division is no different, vehemently thrashing amongst the old school death metal framework, with menacing guitar harmonies and a ripping solo. The Trog crew states, “This song is about performing a soul replacement ritual during which the live subject is surgically severed and sliced along precise energy points of the body. The intact soul is then coaxed out of the wounds, harvested, and relocated to another plane of consciousness.
Personally, these themes add a cosmic horror and otherworldly theme which run through the lyrics and artwork, giving Horror Beyond an extra jolt of coolness for those of us that are cosmic nerds but also like ripping death metal.
Siting at thirty-two minutes with seven tracks, the album is a tad short for my liking. I would have liked another four minutes or so, but hey it’s self-produced, so I can’t bitch too much.
With that said, Horrors Beyond is a hell of a debut album. It isn’t anything you have not heard before, but it doesn’t really need to be. It rips hard, sounds fucking great with a raw live feel, and basically just wants to smash everyone. Sounds like a winner to me.
(4 / 5)
