REVIEW: Kontusion - Insatiable Lust For Death

Like a 1990s death metal concept come to life, the band Kontusion was conceived amidst the languor and distress of the global pandemic. Described by some as a metal ‘super-group’, Kontusion’s only two full time members, guitarist/vocalist Mark Bronzino and drummer Chris Moore, hail from the legendary hardcore and metal scenes of America’s East Coast and former bands like Iron Regan, Mammoth Grinder, Repulsion and Coke Bust. Having connected, pre-pandemic, over their shared hunger to make the kind of mean af, old school death metal, they were desperate to hear themselves, Moore and Bronzino also had the kind of chops, as well as the time, to pull it off. Thus in a wide-spread lock down, the devil found work for those idle musician’s thumbs, and Kontusion was born.

Their eponymous first EP dropped in 2022, which included the undoubtedly punishing ‘Rotting with Sickness’, was highly praised for its authentic and brilliantly delivered primeval heaviness. Now, coming for us later this month, is their first full length album, Insatiable Lust For Death. It’s another relentless onslaught of blast beat drums, insane levels of distortion, and gritty dark sounds in the lowest of registers, which feels something like being buried alive. In comparison to the first EP, Insatiable Lust For Death has a fractionally cleaner production, but don’t worry, it’s still like listening to the bowels of the earth on long wave radio, hitting hard with deconstructed flows and raw frequencies, a homage to those early death metal recordings.

Losing none of its savageness, tracks like ‘Hemorrhage’ really play up those dense hardcore drums from the band's muscle memory. Every now and again we are treated to a throwback thrash guitar riff, cutting through the grime, always short lived, returning quickly to the power chords and growls.

The video released for ‘Subjugation’ is an edit of grainy and distorted footage, flicking between the band playing live, warfare and the saccharine positivity of American retro advertising. Ranging from the 40s on to present day, the video closes with an aerial shot of the Gaza strip, followed by footage of the pro Palestine protests which stops this feeling a little cliché. Hitting home and speaking in support of the oppressed, as well as against the media’s suppression of footage, freedoms of speech and support of the Palestinian people. No-one is free until we are all free. Free Palestine!

With this video in mind, the onslaught of sound we get from Kontusion and their position within a counterculture, fits like a glove, and we can only say we want more of it. They emphasise that part of the concept is about reflecting “the darkness of a world marred by chaos, where large scale atrocities run amok”, and we couldn’t agree more.

True to the tone of the album, the band comments that the lead single, ‘Throne Of Skulls’ “lyrically tackles the path of destruction and death in the hell-bent pursuit of power concentrated into the hands of the few’’. Bronzino also adds for the die-hard metallers, it’s full of “charging, galloping riffs, backed by stomping rhythms, in the vein of Cianide, Convulse, and even the legends Carcass with what could potentially be called the ‘C beat,”. Taking the darkest, roughest elements of their knowledge and experience, this slurry of sound is a ‘bash you over the head’ kind of retrospective of their death metal dreams/nightmares.

‘Countless Atrocities’ opens with some assaulting drums and one of those ‘oh so brief’ guitar solos, shredding through the primeval deluge as it summons some avenging dark figure, to wreak vengeance on the earth. Melting into a pulsing onslaught, ‘Revenge’ makes your head an antenna for what feels like some V for Vendetta type messaging, hijacking the air waves; even if the death metal guttural growl gives us no sense of a single word spoken… A real nice break down, and another brief but insane guitar solo, will have you nodding with your grumpy face as it gets deep. After this release we are fully ready to support Kontusion’s dark reign against the 1%.

Score: 8/10

Words: Alana Madden

Photos: Louie Palu via Kontusion