Fessus: Pilgrims Of Morbidity/Thresholds Of Morbidity (2024, Darkness Shall Rise Productions)

Fessus is an Austrian death metal band consisting of guitarist and vocalist Brenton Weir (Molten Chains, Sematary), guitarist Gumpf, bassist Jana and drummer Thomas. Despite their short career and the fact that they still do not have any full-length album to their credit, the band has managed to capture my attention with their dark and morbid death metal thanks to the demo with which they have presented themselves and which concerns us today, Pilgrims Of Morbidity.

On the occasion of its reissue through Darkness Shall Rise Productions, Fessus has decided to include in the same release the live album Thresholds Of Morbidity that completes Pilgrims Of Morbidity with the live versions of the three songs that make up the demo as well as Pointless Anguish and Asphyxiate In Exile. On a technical level we can highlight the skill of its members with their respective instruments, giving their dense demo a brutal and heartbreaking sound typical of old school death metal, with a outlined and dense sound of very heavy guitars.

As for the demo itself, it should be said that the three songs that make up the Pilgrims Of Morbidity demo are an authentic sonic display that hits you in the face forcefully, with Unmoored and Pilgrims Of Morbidity being the songs that I liked the most from the demo. From Acidic Secretion I highlight the marvelous rhythmic work by Jana and Thomas, who together with Brenton and Gumpf manage to create a gloomy and oppressive atmosphere during the scarce thirteen minutes that the release itself lasts. Pilgrims Of Mortality was recorded at Moritz Morast in Favoriten Vienna and mastered by Dan Lowndes of Resonance Sound Studios.

The second part of this release is made up of the aforementioned Thresholds Of Morbidity composed of a live performance with a clean and very well equalized sound. The live versions of the three songs that make up their first demo even improve in Thresholds Of Morbidity, with the addition of Pointless Anguish and Asphyxiate In Exile that further complete this interesting demo released through Darkness Shall Rise Productions. Fessus is without a doubt a band to keep in mind in the not-so-distant future, a project that can give us very good work if they follow the line presented in their debut demo.