by Hugo Reyes (@hvreyes5)
Metal thrives on demos, splits, and seven inches. It’s much easier to build up hype and explore new territories as a band without the expectations that a full length brings. Spectral Voice might be the most extreme example of it in the genre today. When their debut, Eroded Corridors of Unbeing was released in 2017, they had five demos and two splits out in the world. Even as that amount seems outrageous, it ended up being the right decision. By the album’s release they had perfected their concoction of death-doom metal.
This strategy has not changed in the following years. This continued non-album output is part of what makes the Necrotic Demos compilation more compelling than it ought to be. You get to see the band’s gradual change from their 2015 demo to a split from this year with Anhedonist. Opener “Rotting Auras” starts off with a drone of low end distortion, interspersing the attack that makes death metal what it is. The demo is primitive by design, unconcerned with sonic fidelity, and only begins to tease out what the band would become. Its muddiness is its charm instead of its flaw.
Going through Necrotic Demos several times, it almost mirrors a record. There is a gradual progression that finds the band tapping into more of their death metal roots as it goes on. “Katabatic Depths,” the second to last song, is punchy for lack of a better word. It smacks you in the face in a way that the earlier material didn’t. Unlike many other collections, there isn't a definitive end. It serves as a way to recontextualize Spectral Voice’s material while we wait for the next record.