One of the boldest and most visionary new death metal cults IRON BONEHEAD has come across in recent years, VITRIOL are a two-man enigma hailing from Nuremberg, of purest Bavarian mysticism. The band began with a self-titled demo in 2016, displaying copious promise of blown-mind dread to come, but on the presciently titled Chrysalis do VITRIOL truly begin to bloom. VITRIOL brand their sound "cryptic metal carnage," but that only tells half the story. Comprising two epic-length tracks - one nearly nine minutes, the second topping 12 - Chrysalis creates a delirious headspace where swarming chaos rights itself into eerily placid repose, all before exploding/disintegrating into further, fouler reaches of what can potentially be Metal of Death, steadfast yet boundlessly so. Their violence would border on the ceremonial if it weren't so manic and unhinged; sounds literally attack from every angle - as above, so below - and all are rendered in rich, robust tones to maximize that delirium. That violence would also seem nearly improvisational weren't it not for the fact that VITRIOL rigorously maintain the tightest of executions, but always allowing natural physicality to reign supreme. Or, one could point to those two songs' titles - "Swarming Segments, Spirit Splinters of Stellar Dust" and "Soma Somnambulistic Trance," respectively - and perhaps begin to understand the madness contained within Chrysalis...
