Undergang, Deiquisitor, Phrenelith, and Taphos - Tetralogy of Death Split

Something's rotten in the state of Denmark.

(Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on June 23rd 2022) 

For how small it is, Denmark has become the 21st century’s death metal Mecca. Between all the great bands that are coming out from there and festivals like Killtown, it just has it all for the genre’s aficionados. There’s just so many great projects that have come out of there in the past decade alone that it’s hard to count them all. So obviously, one can imagine my surprise when I saw the heavy-hitters that showed up on this split, the aptly named Tetralogy of Death. And let me tell you, it lives up to its title.

Out of the 4 names presented here, I was only unfamiliar with Deiquisitor, so you can imagine my curiosity when I saw that their track, “Sadhus of the Serpents” was the opener. Let me tell you though, I was wholly unprepared for what graced my ears. It was the aural equivalent of being thrown back into the primordial soup from whence we came, a relentless murky barrage of death metal riffage and low growls, coated in what might just be the most distorted and downtuned production I’ve heard in recent memory. For how simple it is though it doesn’t fall into the trap of being monotonous. There’s a lot of tempo shifts here, from grinding uptempo stuff to bludgeoning mid-paced segments and even a sneaky tremolo run halfway through. It was this split’s biggest surprise for me, and it turned out to be one of my favourite songs here.

Following that, we have 2 caverndeath tracks sandwiched between the opener and the closer, courtesy of Phrenelith and Taphos. Phrenelith’s “An Irate Force Descends…” continues on a sonic path similar to that of Chimaera, which was an album I enjoyed, but was also disappointed by. It is my least favourite here, but it ended up growing on me on repeat listens. The buzz of the guitars and the erratic tempo shifts are just what one would expect from caverndeath, albeit with a blackened tinge, both in the playing and the production. There’s also a couple of odd acoustics as well, adding more atmosphere alongside the doomy crawls the band descends into at times.

Taphos’ “Shining Upon Thy Darkness” is quite strong as well, continuing in a similar tone to that established on the previous track, with even more unpredictable transitions and chaotic riffs. Tonally it’s similar to what’s on Come Ethereal Somberness, although the production feels even more claustrophobic than that album’s, making it the hardest to dissect and appreciate. That being said, the cool moments here aren’t obscured, like the creeping and ever so slightly melodic solo that leads into an off-kilter groove a third of the way through the song.

Things close off with a return to the gore-drenched tone established in the opener with Undergang’s “Øjne på stilke”. Now, I’ve been one to sing Undergang’s praises for their masterful songwriting, and this case is no different: this track sees them moving in an ever so slightly different direction, as they tend to do, and it features a lot of blasting, much more than what I’m used to by them. That being said, it works pretty well, especially in tandem with the more lopsided grooves presented here. They’ve a certain oddball flair to them that isn’t commonly found in their discography, and their appearance here is quite a surprise. Other than that, it’s business as usual, with a lot of mid-tempo riffs designed to crush the listener’s skull in, it doesn’t get much better than that.

The Tetralogy of Death is just an absolute banger of a split, no two ways about it. Some of Denmark’s best showed up here and delivered their A game, resulting in an intense death metal experience that goes straight for the jugular. I could further pad out the epilogue by using window dressing and a lot of adjectives but I’m going to keep it simple: if you’re a fan of death metal, you owe it to yourself to listen to this. It’s just 4 great songs in a tight 18-and-a-half minute package, what’s there not to love?

Highlights: Sadhus of the Serpents, Shining Upon Thy Darkness

Rating: 90%