Continuing to walk one of the saddest, most disfigured and truly isolated paths in today’s black metal scene, Xasthur excretes another slime drenched trail of moribund hits with his latest full-length, Defective Epitaph (Hydra Head Records).

Entrenched in the desolate outer edge of L.A., Malefic, the black metal isolationist (and modern day cave dweller?) behind Xasthur, has, since 1995, been a veritable factory of grim metal (he’s released six full-lengths, eight splits, and various other 12 inches and demos). And with his latest, Defective Epitaph, Xasthur shows no signs of ceasing the bleak, seething ambience he’s refined since his first split with Orosius in 1999.

Taken as a whole, the twelve songs on Defective Epitaph are muddied and warped, a masterwork of black garbled madness. Upon first listen there is an eerie repetitiveness to each song, but upon closer examination each track glistens uniquely, be it like an obsidian jewel or a freshly popped bubonic blister. A thick layer of stifling riffs sits like black dross on top of these songs, which are accented by beautifully wilted guitar leads, weary drumming, unsettling keyboards and charred vocals.

Where the production on last year’s Subliminal Genocide sounded somewhat more barren (though still quite filthy), Defective Epitaph’s lo-fi quality is closer to the raw sound quality of earlier Xasthur releases like Nocturnal Poisoning and The Funeral of Being.

“Purgatory Spiral” ambles along sickly, huffing with asthmatic keystrokes while the guitar weeps and the drums clunk with slothful disdain. This song is plagued with lethargy, and sets the tone for the entire release. This quality-this persistence towards lethargy-is what ultimately defines Defective Epitaph and distinguishes it from previous Xasthur releases.

On “A Memorial to the Waste of Life” the thrash and fury of the guitars warp into an abusive, seasick assault. The ambient “Dehumanizing Procession” stands out as an oddly hopeful track, where something that sounds like drowned tubular bells merges with Malefic’s palsy-afflicted guitar and muted shrieks.

Defective Epitaph terminates with the ambient dirge “Unblessed Be.” It is mid-way into this track that you’ll be struck with the surreal, sinking feeling that Xasthur has slowly led you down a long, dark corridor towards an unknown room (the room with the noose from his press photograph?). Defective Epitaph is the suffocating sound of that descent into darkness. Bang your head metal? This is bag your head metal. – Ian Caskey