[Music Monday] 10.11.25 - Mini-Review Trifecta: DEMIURGON (ITA), TAKOMAHA (NOR) & SPØGELSE (SWE).

Music MondaysMusic
Written By Brady Irwin

It’s been a hot minute between proper Music Monday posting, and you can thank an ailing, dying laptop for that! Thankfully, my otherwise-broke arse has had enough savings secured to nab himself a snazzy new Lenovo laptop - ergo, back into it!

For Music Monday this week, I thought it’d be an idea to do a bit of a mini-review round-robin from a bunch of recently released albums. There’s full album reviews in the works too, of course. For now though, consider this a good opportunity to sample a number of delicious musical treats, taste-tested by Yours Truly.

As per usual, I highly encourage checking out the included media and if you enjoy what you’ve listened to, seen, read about - put that punter money where supporting the scene…. mouth is? Words, I do ‘em.

We’re not a paid outlet (who even is these days?!) so everything headed your way here is backed and rated personally, as opposed to hip-fired to feed the content-mill.

Speaking of content, I’m content… to shut up and get going!

 


As Always,

Peace, Love and (Mondayitis-Free) Grindcore xoxo - Brady.

 

  1. Demiurgon (Italy) - Miasmatic Deathless Chamber (Released 29th Sept via Transcending Obscurity Records)

BIO:

“Demiurgon whip up a storm almost literally with their kind of ferocious, unbridled death metal. Hurtling towards the listener at ridiculous speeds, it stirs up a variety of emotions usually of the violent kind. Mostly though, there is sheer trepidation listening to the forceful nature of their music, and strangely, at the same time an innate sense of awe witnessing the control they have over the entire catastrophic event.

Having over a decade of experience, they have cultivated the art of channeling the raw energy into writing satisfyingly long compositions marked with numerous variations and coming with up incessantly buzzing, catchy and memorable albeit inevitably head-imploding riffs. After all, this is pure death metal on steroids, fanned by brutal and technical doses to attain monstrous proportions.

It's the kind of music a death metal fan can't dislike - it's simply dialled up to a fiery level here, backed by years of songwriting expertise and delivered like a punch to the face.”


For fans of:Hate Eternal,Origin,Depravity,Carnophage,Diabolizer,Unmerciful,Hideous Divinity,Arborescence of Wrath

Line up:
Stefano Borciani - Voice
Emanuele Otani - Guitars
Dani Benincasa - Guitars
Riccardo Benedini - Bass
Riccardo Valent - Drums

Artwork by Giannis Nakos / Remedy Art Design

Track Listing -
1. Worldwide Grave 
2. The Era of Defiance 
3. Aspiring to Omnipotence 
4. Miasmatic Deathless Chamber 
5. Flashforward to the End 
6. Throne of Derangement 
7. Apoptosi 



My Thoughts:

Hot damn!

That press release ain’t one word of a lie. This is an unyielding sonic firestorm of brutal death metal, proof aplenty that Italian death metal doesn’t always necessarily go straight down the symphonic route (a-la Fleshgod Apocalypse, etc), and can indeed blast hard. It’s the classic Origin/ Hate Eternal school of unrelenting, punishing death metal, performed with high precision and technical wizardry (but also not necessarily tech-death in overall tone, if this makes sense).

From go to woe, there isn’t any space to hide or cower from the assault - sheet after sheet of thick, jagged riffage is only ever punctuated by equally discordant yet tightly wound tremolo, and it’s all laden upon a vocal/drumming/bass assault that is just multiple tiers of gang-bashing the senses.

If you’re in the mood for something outside of the endless deluge of proggy ‘cavernous’ death metal releases of late and just want something sharp, sniper-accurate and tactically brutal for a real aural bludgeoning, check this one out indeed. Be warned in advance - this one really doesn’t let up, so it may not satiate if you’re in the mood for something with interludes, ambience or heck, even a chance to breathe! Purpose built for the gym, if you ask me…

Truly savage, callous and a fine slice of Italian brutal DM. Not for the weak-willed!


LINKS:

‘Flash Forward To The End’ Music Video (via Transcending Obscurity Records):

2. Takomaha (Norway) - American Basements (Released Oct 28th, via Loyal Blood Records)

BIO:

“There exists a delicate balance between control and chaos. Interfering signals bleed red, amps scream on the verge of collapse, and yet the slightest restraint holds the flood back from obliterating the dikes. Storms loom, hungry to consume everything in their path, but a piercing calm seizes the gaze, a hallucination wrapped in uneasy serenity. From that vantage point, melodies burst through and the maelstrom briefly subsides. Just as the wreckage becomes clear, another surge erupts, and everything is swallowed in darkness.

Channeling the jagged urgency of This Heat, the volatile fire of At The Drive In, and the distortion-drenched assault of A Place To Bury Strangers, Oslo’s Takomaha stand ready to tear down the order. Their sophomore EP, American Basements, recorded at Black Valley Studios & No Tomorrow Recordings and produced by the legendary Nick Terry (Libertines, Serena-Maneesh, Kvelertak), is a four-song battering ram, equal parts precision and demolition, aimed squarely at the status quo.”

 

My Thoughts:

Well, to quote the late and great Big Kev - I’m Excited! The Scandinavian scene just keeps bringing more and more of its’ more diverse heavy/alternative cornucopia to the global stage more and more with time, and I for one am here for it. Whether it’s the viscous and caustic grindcore of bands like Ratlord or fantastic homages to 90’s industrial/noise/sludge rock/punk via American Basements, Norway in particular is showing its’ stripes for more than just black metal.

If you’re a fan of Chat Pile, At The Drive-In, Unsane, Jesus Lizard etc, you’ll feel warmly at home here. Awash in a sea of fuzz-laden distortion, riff-walls, feedback and thunderous drumming, the vocals and melodic hooks offer a really nice counterpoint to what is an almost dystopian din. There’s plenty of post-rock adjacent moments between the chuggier chord progressions, lending a sense of space and depth in not much time at all over four tracks. For an EP, the production is fantastic. This is a genre where nailing the mix everywhere from the pedalboard to the mixer is a precarious balancing act, but in this case it hits a delicious mix of acerbic and crisp.

Very promising stuff - you bet your bottom krone I’ve got my eye on these guys.

Australia’s a shit of a thing to travel to expenses-wise, but I could also see these guys copping a super-positive reception on the live front! Totally an unselfish and completely subtle hint there.

 

Full EP Stream (via Soundcloud):

 

3. Spøgelse (Sweden) - Spøgelse II (Released Oct 24th, via Welfare Sounds & Records)

 

BIO:

“Gothenburg’s drunk’n’roll/hardcore-punk wrecking crew Spøgelse are back to remind you what punk is supposed to feel like: loud, raw, and one beer away from total collapse. Their second album, Spøgelse II, lands on October 24 via Welfare Sounds & Records, packing fifteen (!!) tracks that hit like a fist to the jaw for anyone sick of polished, overproduced punk.

Born in the deep Swedish woods but raised on Gothenburg afterparties, Spøgelse have spent the past five years cramming into beat-up cars, dragging gear across highways, and spilling beer on every stage reckless enough to host them. Their mission hasn’t changed: fast riffs, feral live energy, and zero fucking compromises.

Spøgelse II continues their drunk’n’roll manifesto with 1,000 bulldozers of distortion and wild-eyed chaos, dragging you straight off the couch and into the fight. The singles make it clear: “Sober Curious” delivers 83 seconds of beer-soaked therapy for the night crawlers, while focus track “Refuse/Resist” barrels forward like a derailed train with no brakes, 50 Pripps deep and leaving the world spinning sideways.

Self-described “beer and guitar-shrimp specialists” and “your favorite fuck-ups,” Spøgelse are a chaotic Gothenburg punk supergroup turned one of the west coast’s most trusted live acts.

Stay pissed. Stay punk. Let’s go now – let’s get away.”

[Editor’s Note: LMAO, best bio ever, had to include it. ‘We’re shrimp people now, Dee!’]

My Thoughts:

Huh. Y’know, I was just thinking about Swedish punk band C.aarme the other day (great stuff!), wondering what the heck’s been going on over in that scene. Nice timing!

First thought - get these guys on an Amyl and The Sniffers bill, straight away. Not only ‘cause they fit said bill perfectly (pun intended) but also cause their caustic yet Motorhead-tier fun brand of self-identified ‘drunk’n’roll’ punk would blow our Aussie female-fronted compatriots way off the stage. I can just tell.

Second thought - you ever just stop and think about the punk scene and wonder if it truly is dead, considering hardly anyone’s talking about it/ it’s less in the alt-music forefront these days? On that note, chat… it ain’t dead, it just moved underground. And adopted band names that to my English-only naive ass sound like the end result of a kebab chowed too fast post booze-binge at 3am.

Akin to my stoke around the growth of Norwegian underground diversity on the world stage, Swedish punk is starting to crawl back into the limelight.

A while back, as an admin for Musolegion I wrote an exploratory piece on Swedish crust. Spogelse have that in spades here musically, with amplified fuzzball riffage that’d make even Entombed blush. Draped over a punchy d-beat exoskeleton with a vocal delivery that hearkens straight back to the classic era of CBGB’s hardcore punk, and you’ve got a fun beer-soaked concoction right here. The fact that it’s dirtier than Donald Trumps’ document storage and hookier than Rex Hunt at the same time demonstrates a priority on the fun-factor.

And sorry Sepultura fans, that ‘Refuse/Resist’ ain’t a cover, but if you want 70 seconds of fun, melodic crust-punk, you’re welcome to stay for that!

It ain’t going to reinvent the wheel, but albums like this aren’t intended to. With most songs averaging a runtime under two minutes, this whole shebang is over before you realise your pints’ empty.

If you miss the rawness, debauchery and devil-may-care f u n in modern punk, this one’s for you. So long as you’re not expecting clean, cookie-cutter pop-punk production, you’ll have a ball. Distillers/ Tsunami Bomb fans will love this one!

 

ISC - LINKS:

 
Brady Irwin
Next

[Gig Review] POSSESSED ‘Seven Churches’ 40th Anniversary Tour, Melbourne (AU), 31.10.2025.