Ecdysis

Full Length Review: Misanthropik Torment "Ecdysis" (Misanthropik Records, Earache Digital Distribution, Kvlt und Kaos Productions) by Dave Wolff
Band: Misanthropik Torment
Location: Lexington, Kentucky
Country: USA
Genre: Blackened death metal
Full Length: Ecdysis
Format: Digital album, CD
Label: Misanthropik Records, Earache Digital Distribution, Kvlt und Kaos Productions (Austria)
Release date: February 14, 2023
This is yet another shameless overdone session of praise, haha. Just kidding. Erik Leviathan delivers one of his heaviest, rawest, and most extreme releases yet with “Ecdysis”. This may literally implode your brain like the remains of the Titanic falling to crush depth. If you thought his previous work was too much, it feels like being slowly skinned alive with sandpaper soaked in napalm and hot peppers, and that’s the mildest comparison I can offer. Even if you’re hardened and almost desensitized to the kind of songwriting presented here, you may still find yourself unprepared for what’s coming.
Consider old Venom, Sodom, Kreator, Mayhem, and Sarcofago delivered to the nth power and that’s to be expected from “Ecdysis”. This is not only their most sonically abrasive release to date but also their most politically and socially controversial. The lyrics accompanying Jonathan Nesbitt's (Crucible Steel, Reincarnation, Nesbitt) relentlessly brutal music represent an unwillingness to shut up and accept the ways of the world without speaking out against them. Leviathan has never been inclined to shy away from controversy, and his efforts are reinforced. If you’re offended or it pisses you off, that’s the point.
I mentioned that an older release of theirs, “Murder Is My Remedy”, demonstrates what happens to one’s mental capacity when one is pushed too far; this album explores a mind way beyond being pushed too far and is more than ready to strike back. In any case, this does not mean you're mad at the world for its own sake. There's plenty to be mad about, and nothing has changed since bands started calling attention to it. The sickness of humanity continues, as does greed, exploitation, and senseless war-mongering, and with it more educated malcontents who are aware of everything that’s going on around them.
Having more bands like Misanthropik Torment would make the underground virtually unstoppable. To me it’s refreshing to know the true passion for metal doesn’t diminish with age as people “mature” into what they’re expected to become, but as with the greats it grows as their passion and thoughts grow with their determination to reach listeners. It doesn’t matter if you’re “open-minded” or “self-limiting” (which is becoming as much a label as anything else) as long as your sincerity shows. Maybe it’s a cliché but it’s still true.
“Master and Slave”, “Ecdysis”, “False Prophet”, “This Horrid Life” and “Believe in Nothing, Question Everything” need raw heaviness to get their point across.