Six years ago Russia’s Fatum first blasted our ears with their album Skverna. Six years is quite a long time in anything. But even longer in underground music. The band since have released records nearly every year, including split ep’s with Cancer Spreading and Distress.
With this, their new album Life Dungeon, they have surpassed themselves and reached a pinnacle in their music. People tend to debate platitude and genres in music. Whereas Fatum crank up their amps and don’t give two flying fucks what the latest avant-garde musical trend is.
Since their inception, their music is very much derived from the UK crust sound of Deviated Instinct and Out From The Void-era Antisect, but with the modus operandi being very much their own. This album opens with a wall of piercing feedback which develops into aggressive chugging with menacing chromatic chords. Also, Fatum have developed a more intense-styled, thrash-tinged guitar akin to Concrete Sox or Hellbastard. Certainly, the opening tune “Enter The Dungeon” has a Sewerside-era Concrete Sox influence. The vocals are rasping, hoarse and spat out like insults.
I’m sure in most reviews of Fatum the word ‘stenchcore’ will be mentioned – and that is fully understandable – yet there are parts such as the closing of the song “Fate” that ends very melodically. Which reoccurs, without being identical through “Escape The Dungeon,” giving it an almost prevailing tone. Of course it all eventually goes back to serious riffs. Honestly, I think could listen to the riff in “The Man Behind” all day.
It should be mentioned that Life Dungeon has a really cool cover that deserves to be made into a poster. It is drawn, as far as I know, by their guitarist Cyrik. He has a mix of Viking and Celtic knot works twisting through depictions of battle, death and torture. Ideal imagery to be looking at while listening to Fatum.
This the vinyl version of the album is released by Insane Society Records, Crust Or Die, metal punk overkill, Tunes From The Dumpster, Into The Abyss, Neanderthal-Stench, Headnoise Records, Distro-Y Records, No Sanctuary Records
