Instantly disinterring the somewhat literally dead corpses of ye olde deathly extreme thrash demo legends Incubus (the ‘God Died on His Knees’ one), Exmortis, and Necrovore alongside similarly inspired groups such as Obscure Burial and Beyond, New Mexico’s Superstition perfectly capture the most obscured and defiant period of US death metal’s dance with thrashing madness pre-‘Scream Bloody Gore’. Formed within some fairly recent timeline this Santa Fe based project featuring the vocalist/guitarist L.S./Shaman (Luke Sheppard) from Predatory Light self-released this demo in early January this year with almost zero fanfare. Now with physical release approaching along with support from 20 Buck Spin, the hope is that this already impressive project gains great momentum with this stylized demo.

‘Surging Throng of Evil’s Might’ is surely meant to invoke the formative years of death metal that spawned from the increasing extremity of underground thrash metal scenes across the United States. Superstition particularly disentomb the sound and style born in between Texas and Florida scenes with some elements that recall the slightly more ‘technical’ approach of far-removed death/thrash groups like Insanity and Mortification (Michigan). The result of these suggested influences actually results in a demo that, with slightly different drumming, would fit in perfectly with the late 80’s/early 90’s Chilean death metal scene alongside demos from Totten Korps, Sadism, and perhaps Atomic Aggressor. Most any comparison or similarity is somewhat fleeting though, as Superstition don’t simply create a cult underground death metal sound and rest upon it with lifeless variation.

As exciting as the freshly unearth echos of dust-blown coffins is, the interplay between the guitar performance and the drums makes an immediate connection between ‘Abominations of Desolation’ style songwriting and the energetic guitar work of Insanity‘s demos. This is brilliantly translated into compositions that are more fitting for the current old school death metal revivalist landscape without sounding embarrassingly ‘retro’ or derivative. Tracks like “Outer Mutation” go one step further beyond authenticity than groups like Obscure Burial might, and in turn favor strong performances and composition (a la Temisto) rather than merely satisfying dullards with the ‘right’ sound. This is one hell of a blast of guitar and drum interconnection that any/all death/thrash and old school death metal fans should be spinning. If you’re worried about all of my references to notoriously unlistenable demos, preview “Grave Portals” and “Outer Mutation” (my favorite tracks) and you’ll see ‘Surging Throng of Evil’s Might’ is appropriately raw, but perfectly listenable.

Architects of the darkening sphere. 4.0/5.0

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