21 Jul 2021

Split review: Thecodontion / Vessel of Iniquity - The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event (2021)


Thecodontion / Vessel of Iniquity - The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event

Italy / England

I, Voidhanger Records / Dead Red Queen Records / Bad Moon Rising 惡月上昇

Well, holy shit! The material on this split is great. I have never heard of either bands before listening to this release. Admittedly, I really like splits as it's always interesting to hear how bands represent themselves, and often times splits have great songs from bands that are not always featured on their other releases. The split in question features two pretty awesome bands: Thecodontion from Italy and Vessel of Iniquity from England.

Thecodontion is up first, presenting two tracks that reach the 6-minute mark each. This band has a sound rooted in pure black/death metal, but with an experimental touch, including the fact that the music is quite atmospheric. Now the term "atmospheric" can often times be misinterpreted as music with soothing melodies that bring tears to your eyes or bring a warm smile to your face. This is not the case with Thecodontion, as the music emits a deeply sinister tone that evokes a sense of utter horror, and yet the music is so incredibly catchy that it is impossible to resist. They have some of the best bass playing I have heard from a new black/death band in a long, long time. The bass is a driving force in the music and reminds me of Swedish death metal band Karnarium, as they employ it in an almost similar way. References could be made to bands like Antediluvian, Mitochondrion and Chaos Echoes as they have a similar approach to songwriting and atmosphere. The drums are very adequately played and even quite technical in a kind of straightforward sense. The drums and bass definitely have a good chemistry on this release. Thecodontian has a wholly unique sound and take on black/death metal and all I can say is that I will be listening to more of their music.


Vessel of Iniquity is the far more chaotic entry of the two bands and assaults the listener with a terrifying 11 minute piece of frantic black metal with some harsh noise elements. I think the overlapping elements make this a really interesting and enjoyable split. I am not sure what state S.P. White was in when he recorded this madness, but it certainly sounds like he was in a murderous trance or something. It seems like the track "The Great Dying" is split into two parts but stitched together as one composition, which is interesting because there's a bit of a breather from all the chaos about halfway through when the listener is subjected to a rhythmic percussion with an eerie ambience in the background, followed by more hyper-blasting madness and screams coming straight from hell. The riffs, percussion and vocals are all exceptionally well put together as the music shows a heightened sense of atmosphere that will transport you to another realm.

Overall, it's a very interesting and enjoyable split that I will certainly be coming back to, considering the quality output of both bands. Props to I, Voidhanger for putting out such a harrowing and abstract piece of aural sickness. (HT)