Today we have the privilege of sharing an early stream of ‘Falling into Damnation‘ the first official EP from Italian death metal quartet CONTINUUM OF XUL which releases this Friday, May 27th on Compact Disc and digitally by way of revered extreme metal label Lavadome Productions.

You’ll know, or think you know, exactly where this veritable host of pyroclastic majesty stands from the moment this fine EP fires off — right in the noxious atmospheric wake of a globe-culling eruption wherein molten earth begins to spray and bleed in fiery arterial burst. Er, that is to say that this crew formed between folks known for their work in Hideous Divinity, Hellish God, Feed Them Death, and Nero di Marte have an immediate command of the rhythms we’ve come to associate with brutal elaborations and abstractions of ‘Formulas Fatal to the Flesh‘-era Azagthothian swerve as “I Shall Be Thy Lord” reminds us why these guys turned heads back in 2019 with their ‘Promo MMXIX‘. Continuum of Xul aren’t here to worship so much as command a certain mastery of forms, though, as they begin to pull into their own rhythmic gust beyond the initial fanfare with “Dreaming in the Underworld” touring a host of guitar techniques, tones and rhythmic coiling in manifesting the slumber of an ancient one in poetic detail.

While the compositions could run wild and break within these well-proven abstractionists hands they’ve stuck to readable yet exciting performances which push the limits of speed and speak in imposing tongues, retaining a highest level of performance while presenting a sound which will recall the best of post-millennium death metal but also take us fully into their own world on “Blasphemous Redemption (Praise the Flames)”, the gravel-whipping guitar tone used for certain verses being my favorite detail. There’ll be no better way to convince me to get on board with a band’s gig than covering a piece from Absu‘s alchemical masterpiece ‘Barathrum: V.I.T.R.I.O.L.‘ with such vigor and a bit of their own flair, and in ending this ~20 minute EP with their own take on “An Equinox of Fathomless Disheartenment” Continuum of Xul have secured me as a fan. Stoked for folks to hear this one, any fan of ‘traditional’-yet-blurred apex death metal will hear the right stuff long before they’re done reading my blather.

Thanks goes out to the artist, their label and representation for the opportunity to share this album early. Scroll down to the Bandcamp embed below to experience the whole thing, as always do your best to support the global death metal underground and grab a physical copy from Lavadome Productions‘ Bandcamp or webstore.

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