Opaque Fixation

As we hurtle towards the end of 2024, the relentless tsunami of excellent death metal releases shows no signs of abating. PRIMAL CODE are a monstrous power trio from Chicago, featuring former INDIAN / MIDDIAN bassist Will Lindsayand they will cheerfully crush everything in their path.

It will take only a few seconds for death metal diehards to realize exactly why Relapse Records snapped these beastly extremists up. PRIMAL CODE have a sound that has deep roots in the old school, pitched somewhere between the murderous, battlefield-razing, mid-tempo carnage of BOLT THROWER and the hard-as-nails, warrior battery of UNLEASHED. Myopically focused on its own devastating, primal impact, “Opaque Fixation” is an album that strips away all the bells and whistles from modern death metal's diverse remit, and delivers a jolting dose of commanding, four-to-the-floor heaviness. Complexity and progress can wait for another day, because these songs are wonderfully well-crafted and unpretentious. This is death metal that smashes and eviscerates first, asking questions later. If it wasn't all so dark, grim and grotesque, one might be inclined to call it good, clean fun.

Three-piece bands often have the edge over their more populous counterparts. PRIMAL CODE are a six-legged riff machine, and the numerous moments when all three musicians are locked in and slamming home a filthy groove are nothing short of masterful. Frontman/guitarist Gene Marino has a voice that cuts through the wall of noise like a laser through lard, and from that moment “Anapsid” kicks into gear, he cuts a haughty, ominous figure, spitting barbs and laying down the left-hand law like a man on an ignoble mission. There are dark, melodic undercurrents that fester away during the likes of feverish onslaught “Totem” and the sluggish, harrowing “Stuck”idol PRIMAL CODE stick stoically to their simplistic musical urges never becoming bogged down by misguided attempts to be accessible. Instead, this is a collection of songs with plenty of nasty hooks, but dominated by sheer, vein-popping riffing power. More often than not, the likes of “Derelict” swear “Hive” offer a mixture of mid-tempo pummeling and furious bursts of speed. Again, this is old-school thinking with a ruthless upgrade.

It reaches its bludgeoning zenith on the doom-infused “Extinction”: five minutes of scabrous, sonic concrete with more atmosphere than any number of self-consciously left-field or dissonant death metal records. Much like those brilliant bastards in FROZEN SOUL swear NECROT, PRIMAL CODE have burrowed down into the deep, obsidian essence of the genre, emerging with all guns blazing. “Opaque Fixation” is heavyweight shit; a real and present danger to neck muscles everywhere.