“…the aural equivalent of a Lovecraftian descent into madness.” – Metal Injection
“Drenched Onyx,” the new video/single from Midwest US death/drone metal innovators ABHORRENT EXPANSE, is now playing at Metal Injection. The song marks the second single preceding the band’s caustic second album, Enter The Misanthropocene, nearing release in August through Amalgam Music.
ABHORRENT EXPANSE thrives on contradictions and draws strength from the muddled wastes between firm stylistic distinctions. The group conjures harrowing visions of the descent into true hysteria, abstracting the familiar hallmarks of extreme metal into ancient soliloquies intoned in forgotten tongues. Tectonic grinding, relentless needling, and claustrophobic encapsulation give way to violent flashes, pangs of dripping saturation, and wildly unnerving murmurs.
Enter The Misanthropocene was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Adam Tucker, with additional contributions recorded by Jesse Whitney in Minneapolis and Craig Taborn in Brooklyn. The album was completed with artwork and design by Dave King and layout by Bill Harris.
The “Drenched Onyx” video was created by Minneapolis-based Jeremy and Max Ylvisaker, who did work for the band’s debut album.
With the video’s release, bassist Brian Courage offers, “Despite your best efforts, a familiar planet has left you behind. An acrid rain overcomes the monotony of your filtration system as you blindly lumber towards a series of caves. Wisps of smoke rise from newly formed holes in your suit and panic sets in. You frantically grope for a handhold, but sheer walls of drenched onyx elude your grasp. Unseen scavengers relish your fate, eager to sample the latest exotic morsel that the rains have provided.”
Metal Injection writes, “A band that thrives in the blurred boundaries of genre, ABHORRENT EXPANSE harnesses contradictions with chilling precision. Their sound distorts extreme metal tropes into a nightmarish sonic language: tectonic shifts, tortured drones, and fleeting bursts of frenzied violence. With a lineup based between Minneapolis and Chicago, the group continues to push further into experimental territory, conjuring the aural equivalent of a Lovecraftian descent into madness.”
Subject yourself to ABHORRENT EXPANSE’s “Drenched Onyx” video first at Metal Injection RIGHT HERE.
Enter The Misanthropocene will be released digitally and on CD via Amalgam Music on August 15th. Find preorders HERE and watch the previously released video for the title track HERE.
With its members spread out between Chicago and Minneapolis, ABHORRENT EXPANSE’s 2022-released Gateways To Resplendence debut was met with infatuated reviews. Following a short tour with their comrades in Sunless, the band returned to Signaturetone Recording to document the next installment of their subterranean exploration. With studio wizard Adam Tucker at the helm once again, the group sought to delve deeper into the worlds of profound discomfort and ugliness of which they are uniquely capable. The resulting improvisations utilized a variety of unlikely tools and textures in the studio ranging from a prepared electric piano and orchestral chimes to a fortuitously ominous door hinge.
All eleven movements on Enter The Misanthropocene were improvised live by ABHORRENT EXPANSE on April 10th, 2022, at Signaturetone Recording in Minneapolis by Brian Courage (upright and electric basses, prepared electric bass, electric piano), Erik Fratzke (guitars, electric bass, prepared electric piano, synth), Tim Glenn (drums, cymbals, percussion, door, chimes, bowed metals), and Luke Polipnick (vocals, guitars, prepared electric bass, bowed metals). As the amorphous new work began to take shape, the quartet enlisted the talents of several trusted collaborators from Minnesota’s tight-knit improvised music community. The album kicks off immediately with “Enter The Misanthropocene,” a suite of frenzied grindcore vignettes punctuated by Jesse Whitney’s stark electronic interludes. “Ascension Symptom Acceleration” follows the squealing outbursts of bowed metal fragments with an enigmatic clarinet coda by multi-reedist Nathan Hanson. In the grandiose final track, the group’s monstrous drones and erratic drum strikes are enveloped by the shimmering, feverish contributions of celebrated pianist (and Minnesota native) Craig Taborn on Oberheim synthesizer and glass harmonica.
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