Abscess Time

Based in Brooklyn, NYC, Pyrrhon are an experimental death metal outfit that combine many aspects of metal subgenres and noise to create unsettling and harsh music. Their 2020 release: Abscess Time, is no exception.

Sonically abrasive and lyrically dismal, this record paints a picture of society doomed to fail, and criticizes aspects of life through metaphors and verbose warnings. Delivered through guttural growls and shrieks, the lyrics are all but indecipherable if you aren't reading along. Instrumentally the songs vary across it's runtime. The opening title track is a bit of a slogging start, with it's plodding drums and noisey guitars. Things begin to pick up on the song " Down at Liberty Ashes" as the band muses about the endless cycle of work and slave waging as people are treated like expendable toys to be broken and replaced. "The Lean Years" is an epic tale of waste and yearning for wealth, and "Another Day in Paradise" is perhaps this record's peak song with it's searing riffs and wonky soloing. The record's longest song, and hardest to listen to would be "The Cost of living". It's a sludgy and dense song about landlords that gets a bit weary and repetitive by the end of the track. Thankfully the record picks up it's speed at this point and delivers some brutal grind and death metal inspired tracks, before finishing up with the skeletal "State of Nature" and the epic finisher "Rat King Lifecycle". The latter of which being a perfect closing point for the album with it's varied structures and downright creepy imagery, before rats hiss off into the echoey depths of the record's final moments.

Overall this LP excels in atmosphere and experimentation. As with any experimental record though there are bound to be some misses. The pacing is somewhat lopsided and slow, and there are several interludes and instrumentals that feel out of place or unnecessary. Sometimes the song's structures are bit all over the place too, where a groove is hard to come by or everything gets swallowed in the noise. I still find this to be a satisfying and dark listen however. It certainly scratches an itch, and is one of the more interesting metal projects to release that year. Solid album!

"You inherit the dust, sons and daughters
Perfect silence, endless summer"~