Album Review: Verminthrone – The Cull (Self Released)

Hailing from Buckinghamshire, UK, Verminthrone are a five-piece sludge crossover band who will release their debut album ‘The Cull’ on February 16th, 2024.

Bringing the noise, sludge style, Verminthrone’s debut album is an attention-grabbing listen, especially for those who like being battered by filthy and heavy music. Starting things off strongly with the riffy and groovy nastiness of Don’t Trust Morning People. Immediately, it’s clear that Verminthrone have the song-writing chops to deliver immaculate sounding crossover metal, all while having this bulbous vein of filth running throughout. Chances are, most will be well and truly sold on this album’s quality already.

Quality that continues into the beast of a track that is It Always Snows in South America. Talk about a track you can head-bang yourself into a stupor too. Verminthrone sound immense here, but the more this album goes on, the more that fact becomes undeniable. Bringing a belly full of fire (vocally), and riffs that would put many a guitar-player to shame, Kuru’s stompy groove is as robust as it is raucous.

Then there is Birth Is a Rope//Death Is a Knot, a darker and more wicked sounding song. The vocals are particularly demonic sounding here, and there’s some blackened influence coming through. Before Pulling Teeth (Spitting Blood) sees Verminthrone causing carnage with a temperamental example of their garish talents. Like much of what came before, this is another out and out head-banger, but has the added bonus of being extremely enticing. This is going to be a beast when it comes to live shows.

As the latter part of the album comes crawling out of the primordial ooze, Verminthrone remind listeners that sludge is a major component of their sound, but they’re not slaves to it either. Delivering hefty blows of heavy groove with Youth for Euthanasia, following that up with the frenzy of filth that is Aorta, and then hitting the knockout blow with the mighty, mighty, fucking mighty Feral. If you think for a second that this album was going to run out of steam, you haven’t been paying attention.

It’s time everyone gave Verminthrone attention, and this debut album is the sort of thing that will turn the heads of those who are looking for nasty heaviness that genre-bends and can be unrelentingly harsh, but has a ton of groove overall.

Verminthrone – The Cull Track Listing:

1. Don’t Trust Morning People
2. It Always Snows in South America
3. Kuru
4. Birth Is a Rope//Death Is a Knot
5. Pulling Teeth (Spitting Blood)
6. Youth For Euthanasia
7. Aorta
8. Feral

Links

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