Review by P. Baczynski on January 23, 2020.

Post Apocalyptic Human Annihilation is a first long play from those guys, and I am happy to announce that it is a very satisfying album. Diphenylchloroarsine has showed their specific "sludgy" way of playing slam death before on their EP The Six Level Purge which already showed a lot of consistency in following their own lane, which has evolved here into final form of - as the band like to call their music - biochemical sludge slam. It may sound more or less corny but is describing the music well. Not trying to say that they have made a subgenre of slam death metal which is a subgenre of brutal death metal which is bla, bla, bla, but it is quite original attempt of playing this particular style.

While generally every band (in slam) is trying to outdo one another with heaviness of their music by playing either very fast or very slow, the Diphenylchloroarsine puts more emphasis on the atmosphere on this album. And yeah, they are also slug-slow. I don't play any instruments so probably someone can say more about the skills of the musicians, but it doesn’t feel like it was a technical arms race, more like perfect balance between playing very slow (and not becoming boring at ANY point of this hour-long behemoth of an album) yet keeping it very intense and heavy. I should probably say more about the music in general, but I guess you know the deal already. Of course, if you are a slam connoisseur, because I don't feel that anybody else can embrace the goodness of this LP, it's for the dudes not for the metalheads (no disrespect for those who call themselves metalheads! It's just me saying that slam has much more to do with rap or hardcore in general feeling and grooves than "standard" metal). The guitars are tuned extremely low. Their tuning is sludgy, yet clean. Production of the whole thing is very good, again saying - atmosphere - biochemical sludge slam. It is definitely one of those pieces of music in which the production helps the music but is not blotting it out.

I enjoyed the snare sound ("St. Anger" jokes welcome) and a lot of cymbals in this album, as a slam maniac you know that you need a high sound cymbals and cowbells and some splash, it's all here and played in the right times and places. Vocals are gurgling and grunting in a few styles, they are also very well performed and fit the whole idea, also they do not sound too edited. For me the 10 rating is a rating you get when you did your job in a way that it can't be done better. And when it comes to play SLAM those guys managed to do it the way that has never been done before, creating an eye-burning gas chamber full of flesh eating, rotting post-human scavengers.

Yes, I know about bands that also put attempt in their music not only to get to the limits of "heavy" but also create somehow generally overwhelming atmosphere, like for an instance, Rendered Helpless or Artery Eruption, just no one ever before made it that big. It is a very hard thing to keep listener's attention, keep his head nodding and mouth grinning for such a long time (55mins) whilst playing constantly slow or a-little-bit-faster-than-slow tempo death metal music. Well done, Diphenylchloroarsine.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by Elijah on January 20, 2020.

As I've became more and more a Kraanium fan, I decided to check out some of Mats' side projects, and this band is some of the best slam I've ever heard.

Diphenylchloroarsine has their own style of slam that has very down-tuned guitars, thumping distortion bass, and pummeling drums, they refer to themselves as "biochemical sludge slam" and "sludge slam" is exactly what this is. This album is the whole package. It has a devastating, grudgy, mucky atmosphere, and it's simply amazing. Aside from the heavy disgusting atmosphere, the programmed drums are very impressive, they made the drums on here sound super real, I thought there was a person playing the drums until I came on this site and saw that they were programmed. The snare; it's heavy, crushing, and solid. Super great snare sound that makes it feels like it's hammering and destroying everything in its path when you're listening to this.

As expected, there's lots of slams here. This band is special for a reason because most slam doesn't necessarily sound like how this band does it. This record has a lot of individuality and creativity, the cover art is just magnificent. The art is very detailed and perfectly matches the sound of the music and the lyrical themes. The cover art and the music go hand in hand 100%.

Along with the expansive and unique band name "Diphenylchloroarsine" the song titles are just as large and detailed. Song tracks such as "Asphyxiating on Hazardous Pollution", "Eradication of Human Pestilence", and "Scavenging the Putrid Remains" adds more personality and character to the record. As I said earlier, the music and cover art match, and the song titles further improve that everything here simply goes together perfectly.

For slam, the songwriting is pretty good. Unless you're not a slam fan or you're simply uneducated on slam, this album won’t bore you. Every song may not have noticeable differences, everything is enjoyable. Almost an hour of heavy pummeling sludgy greatness, and nothing here is a disappointment or a bummer. It took me some time to get into though, some people may not be into this album upon first listen, but some people are. I wasnt one of those people, after about 3 thorough tries I started to love it. It takes time, simple as that.

I have a list of slam albums that are a simple 10/10, and this album is definitely on my list. Heavy ass slams, chunky riffs and bass drops, pummeling disgusting atmosphere, awesome cover art, cool song titles, over and over, all for 55 minutes long. Tell me what's not to love here.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by Kostas on June 21, 2023.

Aherusia were always innovative and sounded fresh, with their folk approach to black metal giving their music a special byzantine-like, epic feel. So, as you can imagine, when I heard they were about to release a collection of Greek traditional songs in their own style, I was both excited and curipus to see what these Athenians had prepared.

The first impression I got once I started listening was that ''Nostos ~ An Answer (?)'' is not as heavy as I expected it to be. There are not many aggressive parts, blast beats or even harsh vocals at all. Instead, every musical composition sounds very melodramatic and, I dare to say, closer to rock than metal at several points. I am not saying that such a surprise is not entertaining or enjoyable, but I believe Aherusia could for sure have incomporated more elements from different musical styles, like they have done in the past. For example, the haunting atmospheres of their first album or the epic feel of ''As I Cross The Seas of My Soul'' are not present here. And it is a pity, because all of these traditional songs the band chose could have been brought to a whole new level. Instead, they sound just like the originals, the only difference being they are played with an electric guitar, bass and drums. What I am saying is that the band should have tried harder to give these tracks a whole new identity and create substantial modern covers.

Nevertheless, I should definitely not neglect the talented musicianship that contribured to the creation of this album. The singer proves how much of a beautiful voice he has, even if as I mentioned before he does not use his also great harsh vocals. Somehow, he manages to convey an outstanding amount of opposing feelings. I was personally impressed by how his loss and sadness-bearing tone evolves into fury during the last track, '' Μια λυγερή τραγούδαγε ''. Besides this amazing vocalist, I have not much more to say, other than everything else sounds professionaly correct. The guitars are great, creating pleasant melodies that always follow the folk patterns. The drums offer the necessary background and the bass sounds pleasantly well. Once again, these people prove how much potential they have and how charismatic they are as musicians.

All in all, I have to say that a great job has been done by Aherusia when it comes to the technical part of this fourth full-lenghth. The problem with ''Nostos'' is that despite of all the good traits the artists have, I feel like they did not use 100% of their imagination. If they had done so, this album could have become a modern metal classic, attractive to many metalheads worlwide. Becuase now I think now it is most likely to be appreciated by Greeks.

Rating: 6.4 out of 10

Review by Kostas on June 21, 2023.

Aherusia were always innovative and sounded fresh, with their folk approach to black metal giving their music a special byzantine-like, epic feel. So, as you can imagine, when I heard they were about to release a collection of Greek traditional songs in their own style, I was both excited and curipus to see what these Athenians had prepared.

The first impression I got once I started listening was that ''Nostos ~ An Answer (?)'' is not as heavy as I expected it to be. There are not many aggressive parts, blast beats or even harsh vocals at all. Instead, every musical composition sounds very melodramatic and, I dare to say, closer to rock than metal at several points. I am not saying that such a surprise is not entertaining or enjoyable, but I believe Aherusia could for sure have incomporated more elements from different musical styles, like they have done in the past. For example, the haunting atmospheres of their first album or the epic feel of ''As I Cross The Seas of My Soul'' are not present here. And it is a pity, because all of these traditional songs the band chose could have been brought to a whole new level. Instead, they sound just like the originals, the only difference being they are played with an electric guitar, bass and drums. What I am saying is that the band should have tried harder to give these tracks a whole new identity and create substantial modern covers.

Nevertheless, I should definitely not neglect the talented musicianship that contribured to the creation of this album. The singer proves how much of a beautiful voice he has, even if as I mentioned before he does not use his also great harsh vocals. Somehow, he manages to convey an outstanding amount of opposing feelings. I was personally impressed by how his loss and sadness-bearing tone evolves into fury during the last track, '' Μια λυγερή τραγούδαγε ''. Besides this amazing vocalist, I have not much more to say, other than everything else sounds professionaly correct. The guitars are great, creating pleasant melodies that always follow the folk patterns. The drums offer the necessary background and the bass sounds pleasantly well. Once again, these people prove how much potential they have and how charismatic they are as musicians.

All in all, I have to say that a great job has been done by Aherusia when it comes to the technical part of this fourth full-lenghth. The problem with ''Nostos'' is that despite of all the good traits the artists have, I feel like they did not use 100% of their imagination. If they had done so, this album could have become a modern metal classic, attractive to many metalheads worlwide. Becuase now I think now it is most likely to be appreciated by Greeks.

Rating: 6.4 out of 10

Review by Kostas on June 21, 2023.

Aherusia were always innovative and sounded fresh, with their folk approach to black metal giving their music a special byzantine-like, epic feel. So, as you can imagine, when I heard they were about to release a collection of Greek traditional songs in their own style, I was both excited and curipus to see what these Athenians had prepared.

The first impression I got once I started listening was that ''Nostos ~ An Answer (?)'' is not as heavy as I expected it to be. There are not many aggressive parts, blast beats or even harsh vocals at all. Instead, every musical composition sounds very melodramatic and, I dare to say, closer to rock than metal at several points. I am not saying that such a surprise is not entertaining or enjoyable, but I believe Aherusia could for sure have incomporated more elements from different musical styles, like they have done in the past. For example, the haunting atmospheres of their first album or the epic feel of ''As I Cross The Seas of My Soul'' are not present here. And it is a pity, because all of these traditional songs the band chose could have been brought to a whole new level. Instead, they sound just like the originals, the only difference being they are played with an electric guitar, bass and drums. What I am saying is that the band should have tried harder to give these tracks a whole new identity and create substantial modern covers.

Nevertheless, I should definitely not neglect the talented musicianship that contribured to the creation of this album. The singer proves how much of a beautiful voice he has, even if as I mentioned before he does not use his also great harsh vocals. Somehow, he manages to convey an outstanding amount of opposing feelings. I was personally impressed by how his loss and sadness-bearing tone evolves into fury during the last track, '' Μια λυγερή τραγούδαγε ''. Besides this amazing vocalist, I have not much more to say, other than everything else sounds professionaly correct. The guitars are great, creating pleasant melodies that always follow the folk patterns. The drums offer the necessary background and the bass sounds pleasantly well. Once again, these people prove how much potential they have and how charismatic they are as musicians.

All in all, I have to say that a great job has been done by Aherusia when it comes to the technical part of this fourth full-lenghth. The problem with ''Nostos'' is that despite of all the good traits the artists have, I feel like they did not use 100% of their imagination. If they had done so, this album could have become a modern metal classic, attractive to many metalheads worlwide. Becuase now I think now it is most likely to be appreciated by Greeks.

Rating: 6.4 out of 10