Pseudogod – Deathwomb Catechesis

Are you fan of the old brutal bands? Black and death metal combined under one roof? Well you are going to love Pseudogod. A band from Perm, Russia; a city located on the banks of the Kama River in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. So as you have probably guessed the coldness is obvious through their music. This is their first full length release after many demos and splits.

I must admit I haven’t listen to many Russian bands with a successful career. I must even try to remember any of them. But that is irrelevant to what Pseudogod have to offer us musically.

The music is a brutal assault to all Christianity in the vein of many old Gods of satanic death and black metal. Bathory, Darkthrone, Mayhem and some of Celtic Frost are clearly their influences. Nonetheless they play a very sick and yet modern combination of all the above. Truly the music of Pseudogod is lying somewhere between death and black metal. Some may call it retro black metal. You can say something like that – because of the dirty guitar sound and riffs, and the whole aesthetic of the album – but the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

The vocals are hellish from the start till the end. There are deep growls mostly and some demented screams here and there. The drumming is alternating rhythms, from mid tempo doom-y style to blastbeats from the deep holes of hell. And the whole production and engineering of the album support the whole atmosphere excellent.

The riffs and the guitars sound is a highlight spot. Their sounding is straight from hell. They are really deranged and wicked. In addition they have these punk elements that remind me a lot of early Mayhem compositions.

The artwork of “Deathwomb Catechesis” is mentioned by many people. It is just wicked. It is straight out from hell. Yes I know I do use “hell” many times in this article. But just take a look to the cover of this album and you will excuse me.

I must say I enjoy this CD a lot. It is retrospective yet quite good for 2012 and it is packed on eight tracks of four minutes each. This is a great package indeed. Just have some booze and listen to these guys; you gone have a blast.