CROWN MAGNETAR ‘The Hollowing Of Godflesh’

CROWN MAGNETAR
The Hollowing Of Godflesh
Unique Leader Records

As extreme metal continues to push the envelope of, well, extremity – sometimes/often at the expense of listenabilityor just common sense – it can be refreshing when someone shows a measure of restraint. At least in a manner of speaking.

No one can accuse Colorado brutes CROWN MAGENTAR of going soft or edging toward accessibility, far from it. But the band’s third album shows it is not interested in trying to out-LORNA SHORE LORNA SHORE with inhuman vocal gymnastics or symphonic ostentation, or out-ARCHSPIRE ARCHSPIRE with a dizzying flurry of technicality and/or velocity or win the race to brutal death metal bottom by sounding like a live hog being run through a sausage grinder.

Instead, the quartet has taken the basics of deathcore, tech-death and brutal/slam death metal, honed and refined them, and added a few flourishes to come up with something that it is viciously efficient yet deceptively sophisticated and unrelentingly bludgeoning while still engaging and memorable. As such, ‘The Hollowing Of Godflesh’ is brutally effective as much for what it is not as it is for what it brings to the table.

What it does bring is surging, ruthless heaviness in a cascade of grooves, chugs and sprints, all delivered in tidy 3 minute-ish packages. ‘Godflesh’ is lean and mean in extremis and so densely packed that there is little, if any, wasted space or effort amid its 30-minute run time. “Gun Eater” opens the album with a 1:47curb-stomp of grooves/breakdowns before “Desecrate Infinite” blasts off in hail of galloping double bass, heaving riffs and Dan Tucker’s ursine roar. Things pretty much slingshot back and forth from there.

This approach may be a matter of practicality. Guitarist Rob Maramonte and bassist Michael Sahm are new to the lineup since CROWN MAGNETAR’s last album, 2023’s ‘Everything Bleeds’ – though Sahm is no stranger to the band, having produced all of its previous releases – and drummer Byron London is now splitting time with SYNESTIA, so the most direct route was probably the smartest one to take. Over-complication or reinvention could well have ended in disaster.

Yet‘Godless’ is by no means a by-the-numbers affair. A veteran of tech-deathsters THE ZENITH PASSAGE and FALLUJAH, Maramonte is a lithe, fluid guitarist who contrasts that with ample burliness and crunch here, especially in “Godkiller” and “Dead Crown” that offer a djenty heft. Given the absence of flashy solos or obvious widdly-twiddly forays, it takes a few listens to appreciate Maramonte’s dexterity amid the concussive heaviness that Sahm ensures with his clear, resonant production work. It’s rare that something this punishing sounds this good.

‘Godless” isn’t perfect. Some of the breakdowns are predictably knuckle-draggy and the tunes tend to get a bit single-minded as the album moves briskly along given their constantly feral tone – though the almost symphonic majesty of “Shut Up and Bleed” is a nice surprise. But there’s no denying CROWN MAGNETAR’s determination here, and by doubling down on its own strengths and dismissing extreme metal’s one-upmanship the band has delivers its self-described “maximalist deathcore” with a minimum of fluff or competitive fuckery.

3.5 Out Of 5.0