Vrenth – Succumb to Chaos

It was but 2019 when southern California's VRENTH burst upon the scene with their debut demo. However, VRENTH's birth was a fully formed one, as the band features a goldmine of death metal cachet, with the quintet's members concurrently hailing from such bands as Funebrarum, Ruin, Ascended Dead, Dead Conspiracy, and VoidCeremony among others. Baptism Death - the band's debut album the next year, courtesy of ROTTED LIFE - proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that pounding 'n' primitive death metal need not necessarily be "low-IQ" to trample all in its path.

And they continue to trample all in their path with their brand-new second album, Succumb to Chaos. Although the title seemingly implores as much, Succumb to Chaos unfurls a monolithic path full of slimy, tendrilous songwriting that's exceptionally linear and yet subtly twisted all the same; there's no randomness nor "riff salad" jerkoffs here. No, VRENTH are duly DEATH METAL for true death metal maniacs: all's housed within a hulking carapace of dread, doom, and disease, undoubtedly strewn with severed limbs and steaming innards at its core. Certainly, Succumb to Chaos keeps the "caveman" aspect loud 'n' proud, but guided by prolific drum-whirlwind Charlie Koryn, the execution equally exudes grime AND grace. Lockwelded to VRENTH's strongest songwriting to date, as well as everything tastefully blackened, Succumb to Chaos is a grand assertion of death metal traditionalism that isn't totally blinkered by the past.