Extinction - Smouldering Enfoulment

The message behind Extinction's latest release "Smoldering Enfoulment" is interesting to describe. The band are righteous in their successfully driven passion to embark on the global warming crisis at hand. A situation that deserves more attention, so when it comes from bands in the world of metal - brilliant. Aiding their cause is the band's competent use of instruments that are made of felled trees, and extracted metals and petroleum. Whilst this baffles me in the most impressive way possible, it completely makes sense and is successful in some way or another. The music mostly follows the brutal death metal route, whilst often catering with elements of grind, thrash, and also doom metal as shown in the album finale, oddly titled 'Victorian Grasslands Earless Dragon Quest' - Perhaps the most interesting and well crafted song on the album, interestingly placed at the end of the record. The vocals in the mix are quite quiet, which helps to focus on the unique instrumentation. And whilst production may not be at the highest peak on this record, the knowledge of the recycled materials used as instruments demands approval in this aspect.

If you can get past the many, but quite possibly relevant samples of David Attenborough banging on about the crisis, as well as the band's oddly placed track titles then this record might just be for you. There's definitely a spark of interest in the talent that has been poured into this project, which can also unfortunately take away the fact that the music might be of less quality than anything else being recorded in the year 2020. I am fascinated to see where Extinction will go to outshine this release on a future one, perhaps they will go as far as to record something out of a studio or use real-life wildlife recordings. Whatever they achieve, I hope they continue on this road to push boundaries and do what other bands simply are not.

3 / 5 STARSĀ 


1. Cryptic Tree Hunter
2. Miss Waldron's Red Colobus
3. Humane Treatment
4. Vachellia Bolei
5. Northern Square-Lipped Rhinoceros
6. Electile Dysfunction (Judiciary Desiccation)
7. Nobregaea Latinervis
8. Victorian Grasslands Earless Dragon Quest


Self released
Reviewer: Max James
Aug 23, 2020

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