Putrascension – Forever Below

One Listen Review

1st Listen –3 Oct 2023
Reviewed – 4 Oct 2023

Putrascension – Forever Below

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions
Released 6 Oct 2023

Forever Below is the debut album from New Jersey band Putrascension and it is a blink and you miss it hybrid of black and death metal. At merely 34 minutes long, the Jersey Devils provide a mixed bag of tracks containing the sublime to the infuriating.

First up is the drumming. Throughout the album, they are superb. Justin Spaeth delivers on each track, controlling tempos, driving the ferocity of the tracks with furious blast-beats. They are by far the strongest aspect of the album. The drums are ably supported by a strong rhythm section, especially the bass of Joe Kreiss. There are tracks such as, ‘Void Within’ where you hear the bass rumbling about in the background like a caged tiger itching to be released. The guitars of Dan Higgins and Joe Fonseca flit between deliberate black metal riffs before firing into to genuine death metal sections with consummate ease. ‘Hydrohammer’ is a prime example of this, the riff 2 ½ minutes into the song is mesmerizing.

Then we have the vocals. Michael Gonçalves is a fine vocalist, as can be seen in his works with Windfaerer, and for a majority of the album, the vocals are very strong. However, and this is

probably personal taste, at times some of the howls are terribly misplaced in the tracks. In ‘Efface’, they become increasingly frustrating and occasionally border on being overcooked. This, however, should not put you off the album or prevent you from checking it out. Right from the off in album opener, ‘Deeper Hell’, Gonçalves demonstrates a mastery of extreme vocals. The fact he can blend death metal vocals with sharp black metal vocals is testament to his ability.

As a debut album, Forever Below, is decent. It is not going to set the world on fire and make Putrascension a household name in the metal world, but it is a very promising introduction to the band and a teaser for future glory.

Band Website: https://www.putrascension.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/putrascension

Instagram: https://instagram.com/putrascension

Bandcamp: https://putrascension.bandcamp.com/