Review by Chris Pratl on January 15, 2019.

Death metal of this sort found on American soil usually falls into one of two categories. Usually the first type is bland, oversaturated death metal that is too thin sounding to be taken seriously with a production as sheer as wax paper and no true grasp of the concept. The second brand of death metal is a thick, battering brutality that simply pounds your skull like a malfunctioning trip hammer and flips the switch in your head right off the bat. Arizona’s Negative Existence is the sole purpose my head is dented and bruised today.

With a drum-beat sound straight out of Malevolent Creation, guitars from the Broken Hope school of death, and vocals that make Craig Pillard appear subdued, Enshrouded Perdition casts a very heavy shadow over the room; 22-minutes of shameless disfigurement by way of audio transmission seem like hours as one track after another disassembles your thoughts and provides a sick and twisted jaunt into caustic nausea. “Using Fear as a Motivator” is something that sounds straight out of the early 90’s underground, especially the riffs that simply sound deadly and the musical equivalent of decay. The guitar tones over the “Lashing out against your condescending tone--/Lashing out at your motives to control-“ are some of the more evil and sadistic sounding I’ve heard. The whole demo provides a serious look downward into the sewage of the human condition.

What impresses me most about Negative Existence is that fact that there is no pretense, no overuse of shock as a weapon; there is a simply battery of dark and violent chords melding with a drum sound that is fast, nicely crisp throughout, and just angry enough to cause small ripples of anger at pretty much everything around me. That right there is what death metal is supposed to accomplish, and this demo does that and then some. This music is as ugly as it gets with some of the better production values to boot; you need to seek out this death metal filth. 

I hope these guys keep going in this vein.

Rating: 8 out of 10

(Originally written for www.metalpsalter.com)

Review by Alex on November 7, 2019.

That place which held hope and purpose for humanity is no more, now burned and buried by and with the pest; this devolved species has shrunk beyond redemption and will remain without. Once at the peak and helm of scientific breakthroughs only to fall before the traps set by brainwashed spooks and false doctrines, the creature finds itself surrounded by inescapable hazards, specters and imminent death. How does one push so close to rational superiority, only to regress in accepting enfeeblement through laziness and irresponsibility. To be reborn, to evade accountability, live-out lies and look to the fucking skies; what comes crashing through the atmosphere is not the answer you were hoping for, rather the stroke of silence long overdue.

Kosmokrator is the artist behind this nihilistic portrait reflecting the doom and bloodshed he brings; thou have asked, thus it has been granted. The imaginary figure immortalized brings only perish, salvation has never held province in his house. Let it be a grim warning to the organism emerging from rape, after the tears of punishment have dried and the ashes of pity have been lost to the wind, that none take up the spoils of the desert and coronate it.

Kosmokrator welcomes the destruction and spares no breath, the sacrifices made during the "Push Towards Daath"; a chance to grasp at the precipice of knowledge, true enlightenment to be found at the base of the abyss, the most unlikely of places, yet not nearly enough acquired to steer mankind from the 'Ruins' of backward philosophies; or was it ignorance and complacency that encouraged the fateful fumble? The vision, the prophecy, destined to erupt from a cursed chasm would spill-over into reality; the Belgian black/death metal army, marches to the sounds of destruction they trumpet. Lands ravaged by a stringed scythe, cauterized by bellows abyssal, bruised by drums and bass brutish and projected clearly through a mix and master flawless to the ignis fatuus of Timo Ketola.

Chaos represented by aid of instrumental poetry, Through Ruin... Behold, ('Irreversible Pathways', 'I Am the utterance of My Name' and 'Gestorben Muss Sein' etc.) the collective of glib yet chaotic verses offering more than the average surface value black/death metal, yields some insight stemming from the chakras comprising the tree of life; put together between 2013 and 2018, Kosmokrator swamps the universe in a void of fright and peril. What a magnificent way to make your debuting full-length mark among others that have put out highlighting records in 2019, also carrying the Belgian flag proudly for black/death metal. Genuinely thespian the way Through Ruin... Behold is setup and plays, like an adventure of some significance being unraveled by music never missing a key period or moment in traversing chapters. Acceleration and deceleration implemented at critical instances to give account in dynamic differentiation and surprises thrown at the listener. One session leads to another, and another, and another, and so it carries-on without becoming bland or wearisome.

Not much more I could have asked for from a debut full length black/death metal record considering how easy it is to get brushed aside in an overpopulated genre. Your longevity relies on the ability to take risks executed in a fashion that appeals to the listener without damaging the centerpiece of your craft. To The Svmmit, then First Step Towards Supremacy to the current effort tells of a band on a mission to achieve supremacy indeed. Through Ruin... Behold is a massive concretion of black/death metal sublimity.

Rating: 9.2 out of 10