If Construct of Lethe represents anything, it’s blatant unconventionality. A quality to be admired, especially in the death metal scene these days. Their 2018 album Exiler is a monument to that principle; a monstrous piece of music that’s daring as it is incessantly heavy. Adding to that, it’s tonally different than most – if not all – death metal that the majority have laid their ears on. The follow up to that is unquestionably a difficult endeavor, and for the band’s debut on Transcending Obscurity, they set their sights on a horrific and fitting concept.
Titled A Kindness Dealt in Venom, the subject of one’s inner voice and its hatred for the associated person, drawing from guitarist/bassist/keyboardist Tony Petrocelly’s own experience with the struggle of depression and self-loathing. The album is also meant to be taken in as a single composition, though it is broken into 12 individual tracks. With that in mind, the approach for this review aligns with the mindset of taking in A Kindness Dealt in Venom as a single entity.
The beginning is violently explosive, dabbling in moments of technical flamboyance tempered by grim discordance. Construct of Lethe continues to make the tech side of death metal grim and emotive, embracing various tempos from expeditiously fast and pummeling to measured and doom-oriented. All the while, an underlying savagery bubbles from underneath the surface at all times. No doubt taking some level of influence from acts such as Ulcerate, though never mimicking their singular stylization. The heaviest moments are uncompromising as can be imagined, conjuring an overarching feeling of menace and hopelessness within the band’s addictingly crushing compositions.
Moving forward, a more prominent uptick of industrial style mechanizations creep in to add a disturbing ambiance amongst stomping riffs and off-kilter structures. While the first half of A Kindness Dealt in Venom is highly caustic and immeasurably brutal, the latter traverses towards a more experimental and atmospheric approach. Creepy spoken word sections – representing the stated hate-filled inner voice – are utilized to move the narrative towards its fateful conclusion, surrounded by mind-bending instrumentation and tribal-esque pounding drum work. There’s definitely a Side A vs Side B sort of argument to be made, as at times it feels like a huge shift musically and tonally. However, the mood of the story also changes here, so the deviations ultimately serve the concept the band is portraying.
One can imagine the later portions of A Kindness Dealt in Venom turning off some listeners who came for the nearly unbelievable heights of barbarity and abrasiveness that Construct of Lethe distribute better than most of their peers. However, when taken as the whole and considering the manner the story is woven, it works on a cerebral level and leaves an indelible impact. Giving this album one’s full attention with multiple spins is highly recommended to be able to properly take in what is a highly experimental take on the death metal genre. Construct of Lethe isn’t a band that sticks to any given formula, and their continued run of boldness with A Kindness Dealt in Venom again embodies those highly reverent principles.