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Solitary artist Malefic does not need to be introduced, since he's the hyperactive creator behind Xasthur, an American Black Metal icon. The "Xasthur sound" has always been a bit of a mystery for me. How could a musician create music by using such dissonant leads is beyond me. I mean, his guitar is not only downtuned but, tuned in Malefic's own key! This brings me to the other mystery, the vocals. Never a rasp has been so undecipherable and those whispers are really from another world.

I believe Xasthur's music does not exist as such, but is more closely related to a ghostly impression only heard in the mind of the darkest and most obscure creatures on earth! All of this grimness is, to a certain point, hard to bear and one could have a bit of a hardship if trying to listen from beginning to end in one sitting, especially if you listen to Defective Epitaph, which lasts over 75 minutes. I think this new work is the most mature, focused, darkest and depressive opus that came from this soul. The dissonance blending with distorted guitars and the haunted symphonic keyboards, all of which pulsated with mainly mid to mid fast paces through these 12 compositions.

No bad tracks but some of them caught more my attention like : Purgatory Spiral. Cemetery of Shattered Marks, Dehumanizing Procession and The Only Blood that Pours is Yours.