Triumvir Foul – Triumvir Foul (Blood Harvest)
Monday, 11th January 2016
A real switcheroo band, Triumvir Foul is essentially the offshoot project of two dudes (Cedentibus and Ad Infinitum) from scathing BM merchants Ash Borer. As the side project world dictates, it’s usually someone looking to scratch some kind of itch and get away from his or her bandmates, but apparently this duo enjoys their own company enough to form a band that is decidedly different than their main outfit. (Lest we forget the involvement of Absque, who rounds out the lineup.)
The band’s self-titled debut explores the now very-common world of subterranean, murky death metal. Whereas Ash Borer (last time we’ll cross-reference the two) explore their own somewhat vast and epic terrain, Triumvir Foul resides largely in the barren, desolate sphere of anti-melody, anti-structure, and anti-everything else that traditional death metal would be embody. Lurking somewhere beneath the mass of swollen guitars are chunky, surging riffs, occasionally glued together with manic solos (see: “Banished to Silence and Slavery”) and forceful sludge plunges, which can be found on “Hedonistic Prayer – The Abhorrent.” It’s not all trudging through the mire: The diabolical blasting found on “Endless Spiritual Violence” finds the band at their most off-the-rails, particularly when the song checks in with an Autopsy-like rumble.
In some ways, Triumvir Foul have hitched their wagon to a very long train – there’s no shortage of abyssal death and/or extreme metal bands. You’d think the distinctive elements found in Ash Borer (sorry – another cross-reference) would creep into this band, but ‘tis largely not the case. The elements, the weariness, and utter bleakness is all here. Triumvir Foul just needs to let it go off the rails like they do in the other band. Imagine the quirkiness.
