Lo-fi death metal doesn’t have the instantly hokey angle to it that lo-fi black metal does. Most of these guys just want to sound like demo-era Incantation or Autopsy; nothing more, while the black metal goons want to prove they can create atmosphere through a Magnavox boom box (remember those?). Really, it just comes down to who can sound the most evil, something the Georgia/Colorado duo in Vasaeleth manage to achieve across their five-song outing, All Uproarious Darkness.
Because it doesn’t back into retro death metal the way so many have of late (read: leafing through the logs at Sunlight Studios for riff ideas), All Uproarious Darkness could fit the bill for any number of bands on the predominantly sub-production label Hell’s Headbangers. It makes sense: The fuzzy, disharmonic riffs get absorbed by the drums on the furious “Fathomless Well of Ruin,” while the murky “Black Curse Upheld” does nearly the same thing, but with a little more attention paid to those doomy McEntee riffs.
In and out at 20 minutes, Vasaeleth cram as much as they can into the running order for All Uproarious Darkness. And when taken into account how decidedly grainy and true to old form this one is, you’re left to wonder how certain black metal bands can keep a straight face while they sound so crappy while a band like Vasaeleth can get away with a similar production and come out shining.