It’s truly heartening to see offbeat death metal releases such as this one getting high praise. This Construct of Lethe album is a deeply personal one about suicidal depression and everything here reflects that. It’s relatable even for those who’ve remotely experienced that. Either way, it’s a unique album in the style with genuine intent and expression. You can now listen to it in full AT THIS LINK.
| PRESS – ► “one of the best albums of the year by a mile” – Metal Epidemic (UK) 5/5 https://www.metalepidemic.com/ ► “easily one of the best death metal albums I’ve heard this year” – Moshpit Nation (US) https://www.moshpitnation.com/ ► “it’s not just an experience, but a life-altering introspective implosion” – Deaf Sparrow (US) 4.6/5 https://www.deafsparrow.com/ ► “the musicians have produced an incredible album here” – Acta Infernalis (France) 90/100 https://actainfernalis.com/ ► “an amalgam of music styles and especially atmosphere. I think it’s very well done” – Zware Metalen (Netherlands) 88/100 https://zwaremetalen.com/ ► “a great album” – Metallerium (Mexico) 8.8/10 https://www.metallerium.com/- ► “a unique creation that is sure to cause ripples throughout the underground for all the right reasons” – Head-Banger Reviews (US) https://headbangerreviews. ► “a ridiculously strong album” – Wonderbox Metal (UK) https://wonderboxmetal.com/ ► “constantly morphing stylistic hybrid on a grand scale” – No Clean Singing (US) https://www.nocleansinging. ► “one of the releases that leaves a long-lasting mark” – Ghost Cult Magazine (UK) 8/10 https://ghostcultmag.com/ ► “atmospheric, eerie, almost theatrical” – All Around Metal (Italy) 4/5 https://allaroundmetal.com/ ► “continue to showcase their fantastic creativity” – The Razor’s Edge (UK) https://therazorsedge.rocks/ ► “devastating and just colossal” – The Killchain (UK) https://thoseonceloyal. ► “a journey through the dark depths of the human psyche” – Arrows Lords of Metal (Netherlands) 8/10 https://arrowlordsofmetal.nl/ ► “a deep dive into the nightmares and challenges many of us face” – Metal Eclipse Reviews (US) 3.5/5 https://metaleclipsereviews. |
| Here’s some information on the album’s concept in the band member Tony Petrocelly’s own words – “This album is meant to be taken as a single track. There are 12 relatively clear sections that it can be broken into, but this album feels like more than the sum of its parts, if that makes sense. I wrote the lyrics this time around. They’re very personal and describe periods of depression and self-hatred I’ve gone through over the last 5 years. The lyrics are told from the point of view of a person’s inner voice, but that inner voice hates the person it belongs to. Over the course of the album it lets its feelings be known in an attempt to make the person kill themself, which ultimately it does. The title A Kindness Dealt in Venom signifies that the inner voice thinks it’s doing the world a favor by poisoning its person’s mind and getting them to remove themself from the world.” |
Construct of Lethe have created a deeply personal, autobiographical concept album dealing with suicidal depression which is meant to be listened to seamlessly as a single song. They’ve transcended the death metal confines on this album to achieve the kind of expression that encompasses a wide range of emotions and to that extent they’ve borrowed influences of other styles such as industrial, black metal, doom metal, ambient, etc. and even used synth and electronics to achieve that. The album traverses various dimensions while remaining coherent as well as cohesive, with the writing always coming off as intuitive, flowing naturally and never forced. As the battle rages on with the inner voice coming to terms with the persisting life, one can experience the undulating highs and lows via the music, and more often than not, following moments of bleakness, there’s an epic, cathartic outcome as if by way of an epiphany. The upbeat sections replete with the Morbid Angel-esque riffing make an appearance too along with the flurry of leads which the band have perfected over the years. All in all, it’s a rich, varied and unique album that needs to be treated differently. It’s meant not just to be heard but to be experienced.
For fans of – Morbid Angel, Mithras, Near Death Condition, Hate Eternal, Nile, Pan Thy Monium, The Bleeding Light
Line up:
Kishor Haulenbeek (Black Harvest) – Vocals
Tony Petrocelly (Near Death Condition) – Guitar, bass, synth
Patrick Bonvin (Near Death Condition) – Lead guitar
Kevin Paradis (Benighted) – Drums, percussion
Artwork by Kishor Haulenbeek
Track listing:
1. Artifice
2. Bete Noir
3. Contempt
4. Denial in Abstraction
5. Flickering
6. I am the Lionkiller
7. Labyrinthine Terror
8. Monument to Failure
9. Paroxysm as Pragmatism
10. Raw Nerve, Iron Will
11. Sacrosanct
12. Tension – There is Nothing for You Here
Official release date – June 21st, 2024