With its members spread out between Chicago and Minneapolis, death/drone metal innovators ABHORRENT EXPANSE arrive with their second album, Enter The Misanthropocene, 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.
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.
The album 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 album’s opening suite and title track serve as the first preview of Enter The Misanthropocene, delivered through a surreal video created by Minneapolis based Jeremy and Max Ylvisaker, who did work for the band’s debut.
ABHORRENT EXPANSE guitarist Erik Fratzke states, “Like shards from the abyss, a hyper-dodecaphonic deluge overpowers logical comprehension ushering in an aesthetic paralysis which lay beyond good and evil. Mechanical dialectics are overthrown by electronic waves of ominous placidity. Dialogues with unseen dimensions bestow a triumph of the irrational where eternal beauty is revealed: Enter the Misanthropocene.”
Proceed with caution and watch ABHORRENT EXPANSE’s “Enter The Misanthropocene” video RIGHT HERE and stream the song HERE.
Enter The Misanthropocene will be released digitally and on CD via Amalgam Music on August 15th. Find preorders HERE.
Additional videos and news will be posted over the weeks ahead.
Enter The Misanthropocene Track Listing:
1. Enter The Misanthropocene
2. Kairos
3. Praise For Chaos
4. Crystal Proliferation In Subharmonic Space
5. Waves Of Grace
6. Assail The Density Matrix
7. Drenched Onyx
8. Nephilim Disinterred
9. Dissonant Aggressors
10. Ascension Symptom Acceleration
11. Prostrate Before Chthonic Devourment
ABHORRENT EXPANSE’s 2022-released Gateways To Resplendence debut was met with infatuated reviews. Decibel Magazine called it, “Heavy and unrelenting, moving seamlessly between blasting death metal, doom interludes, and oddly timed music in a genre all its own…,” and Metal Injection posted, “If you’re a fan of the more free-jazz side of metal, then you’re really going to dig this one.” No Clean Singing reported, “The musicians challenged themselves; their music will challenge you. But it’s a challenge well worth taking if your tastes include appetites for things adventurous, and things mad.”
Wire Magazine’s review cited the “volley of blastbeats, bilious growls and general hellishness. But the resplendent worlds are heliocentric a well as hellisih, as demonstrated by the explanatory, agile, and agitated improvisations…” Burning Ambulance raved, “ABHORRENT EXPANSE demonstrates a deep knowledge of free jazz and any number of avant-garde niches. The result is an expansive and gloriously unpredictable record. They seem to invoke the incomprehensible elements of cosmic horror that so many extreme metal acts point to as inspiration.”
The album was #8 on PopMatters’ MetalMatters The 20 Best Metal Albums of 2022, who wrote, “…Gateways To Resplendence demonstrates just how much the harsh, manic edges of freely improvised music and maximalist death metal have in common… all the signature elements of a free improv session but with the menacing aura of death metal injected in its strummed and bowed double bass, picked guitars chords, and spastic drum patterns.”
Following a short tour with their comrades in Sunless, ABHORRENT EXPANSE 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.
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