Slimelord - Chytridiomycosis Relinquished (2024)^{Release ID: 50597}

I did hear Chytridiomycosis Relinquished when it first came out back in March of this year and immediately it fell off rotation as it was obvious to me that this was not an album that would reward with repeated listens. This is mostly due to it being more than just a death/doom record (which it mostly certainly still is at its core). The more expansive elements of the album tended to not register upon first listen, either as a sub-conscious effort on behalf of my brain to not accommodate them (it already being programmed to expect looming riffs and ghastly guttural offerings only) or out of sheer lack of time to sit and focus properly on the merits of Slimelord’s debut full length offering. With the onset of illness this past few weeks I have found time to revisit Chytridiomycosis Relinquished; sticking with my theory that back-to-back plays does not help engagement with this record. As a result, the appreciation I have for this record has grown with each subsequent listen.

At a base level, this is some perfectly well executed death/doom. The slow, agonising sections that link together a track like Gut-Brain Axis are essential listening for fans of the sub-genre. They brilliantly map the relationship between the gut health and brain health of a truly terrifying sounding creature. Where this album starts to impress beyond the confines of its core sub-genre traits are with the sonics that surround the guitar work though. Creating atmosphere is clearly one of Slimelord’s better qualities and between Alexander Bradley and Krystian Zamojski they use their combined string prowess to really lift the whole sound out of that familiar death/doom dirge. When combined with some of the off-kilter time signatures (Splayed Mudscape, as an example), I soon found myself mightily impressed with what the duo could achieve.

This should come as little surprise really, especially for anyone who is familiar with Bradley’s work with Cryptic Shift. With Bradley on guitar, John Riley on bass, and Ryan Sheperson on drums, the Cryptic Shift fellas all give a fine acquittal of themselves. Although unheard of beyond Slimelord, vocalist Andy Ashworth gives a solid performance, his style being perfectly cavernous and grim. The real treat here tough is the strength of the song writing and its consistency across the track listing. With such a high level of craftmanship on the instruments, this does give opportunity to write some material to stretch those legs and Chytridiomycosis Relinquished carves some vast soundscapes from what initially looks like a fathomless cesspit of filth. The brilliant The Hissing Moor is one such example of this. This track is sonically rampant with leads darting across the swampy foundations like unexpected fireflies, whilst elsewhere the riffs constantly drill into murky depths that accompany the vocals superbly.

As a cohesive unit, Slimelord are virtually unstoppable. As I work through the tracks and see some of them clocking in at over eight minutes, any hints of dread that I may have had over the album becoming bloated just dissipate as track after track just continues to deliver. The real key to this album for me though is (bizarrely) mot listening to it with any degree of regularity. That’s when the hints of dread start to trigger a little more and for all the brilliance I acknowledge across the album, I still stick to my methodology of infrequent visits to get the best out of Chytridiomycosis Relinquished.