Stress Angel - Punished by Nemesis

Angry Metal Guy 70

2021 saw Stress Angel belch forth out of Brooklyn with a hideous sound marrying Autopsy-core with punky d-beatery and crust-encrusted doom. Bursting Church was a slippery, slimy, nasty piece of work and the duo behind it was effective at throttling throats and sacrificing goats. 2024 comes around and the gruesome twosome returns with sophomore outing Punished by Nemesis, and with it a more expansive palette and grander vision. Now an enlarged doom element writhes alongside enhanced blackened edges while the punky, death-thrash core remains as aggressive as ever. This potent fermentation makes for some rough and rowdy fare with more middle fingers than 2 people should be capable of throwing. That means good, friendly, violent fun for all as you too get Punished by Nemesis.

After a grand, vaguely ecclesiastical opening, the title track comes out like an alpha baboon with rage issues, biting and tearing with jagged trem riffs and oppressive drum thundering. It’s very old school in construction and often sounds very 80s. If one can imagine vintage Autopsy mixed with The Return era Bathory and The Accüsed’s The Return of Martha Splatterhead you’d be in the general neighborhood, and brother, it’s run down! Cuts like “Monsignor’s Wish'” and “Ritual Debt” are viciously pummeling pieces of gutter trash and I mean that in the best possible way. There’s a weirdly epic vibe to the latter that belies the neanderthal brutishness of the music and it’s got a strange charm that’s tough to quantify. There’s a lot of Toxic Holocaust in its DNA, but it feels more volatile somehow; its blackened edges dangerous, the moldy death elements savage, and the traditional metal influences slick and sassy.

Track after track stuffs you in a filthy sack then beats you with rebar, and at no point do you get to come up for dirty Brooklyn air. Absolute bangers like “Close to the Presence of Suffering” and “Ancient Weakness” give no quarter while taking all your lunch money, and the bloodthirsty blackened thrash of “Jericho’s Trumpet” will have you stuck back in 1994 wondering how you’ll function with no interwebs. The central riff here is aces and will stick with you for a long, long time. It’s the little details that push the album from good to more so, like the eerie organ music that appears amid the slicing and dicing of “Ancient Weakness,” and the surprisingly beautiful and melodic soloing that erupts midway through “Rtitual Debt.” This thing has its share of happy surprises. While no song feels unnecessary, closer “Ministerial Road” lacks the same barbarian machismo and blunt force of its battle buddies. A few cuts also run longer than they should considering the nature and style. “Ancient Weakness” pushes the envelope at nearly 6 minutes and “Missionary Zeal” feels long in the yellow tooth at just over 5. At a very reasonable 39:47 however, Punished feels like a gleefully frantic ride and demands replays to get more of that tasty death rattle. The production is super retro, with tons of reverb on the vocals and a tawdry, unpolished aesthetic that works perfectly for the material.

Natur’s Manny Sores (this still makes me laugh) does a wonderfully dreadful job on vocals, with his manic shouts, growls, and screams drenched in reverb. He disinters every last bit of mold school death along the way and you’ll want to help him dig. His high-pitched screams/squeals are used infrequently but pay big dividends when they land. His drumming is rudimentary, bestial, and unforgiving. He almost sounds like a drum machine, but that works fine with this material and I enjoy the relentless hammering he dishes out. Nicolai Orifice brings his A-game with a fine collection of sharp, stabby riffs that span the genres. He provides stomping death grooves, high-octane blackened terms, and ponderous doom leads while functioning as a one-man metal riff emporium. His all-over-the-map performance is what makes the material so captivating and the man deserves a pat on the back and a warm, shitty beer for his troubles.

I was a fan of what Stress Angel was brewing on Bursting Church, but Punished by Nemesis brings a higher level of warfare to the masses. This is one of the most stupidly entertaining extreme metal albums I’ve heard in a while and I keep replaying it over and over. Get your hands on this hideousness and let the bugs fight over your rotting carcass. Welcome to Brooklyn, asshole!



Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dying Victims
Website: Too Brooklyn 4 the Nets (wait…)
Releases Worldwide: March 15th, 2024

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