Pneuma Hagion - From Beyond

Angry Metal Guy 70

Before I started driving fire engines, I drove garbage trucks. I was the relief driver for a small refuse company, so I had to know all the different routes pretty well. I spent many days riding along with my coworkers in order to get familiarized, and, let me tell you, being trapped inside a cab with someone for eight to ten hours can lead to some interesting experiences. Some days were filled with awkward silence, others with a non-stop verbal assault, and every day was scented with the intermingling of individualized fart gasses. I vividly remember a day where one trainer unleashed an 8-hour dissertation on theology. You might think I’m exaggerating, but I’m positive this guy had the knowledge base to teach in seminary. While my eyes glazed over for much of his spiel, I will never forget him explaining the Hebrew concept of God’s kevod. Kevod is translated ‘glory,’ but it also carries the notion of ‘weight’ or ‘heaviness.’ As he explained this, my ears perked up, and I thought to myself that Kevod would be a fucking sick band name. Well, if Kevod ever exists as a metal band, I think it should sound exactly like Texas’ Pneuma Hagion.

Taking their name from the Greek form of ‘holy spirit,’ Pneuma Hagion bestows unto us an offering of no-frills death metal. It feels like these guys took Morbid Angel’s Gateways to Annihilation and simmered it over low heat for hours, reducing it down to leave a delicious sauce of pure, unadulterated groove. But where Morbid Angel embellished Gateways with blistering guitar pyrotechnics, Pneuma Hagion has sold their soul for more bottom end. Gaze upon the intro of the embedded single and album opener “Harbinger of Dissolution,” but take care lest you be caught in the swirling, malevolent arrogance of the narrator. A huge breakdown just past the midpoint arrives to grind your bones to dust in time for a reprisal of the furious intro to blow through and scatter your remains across the stars.

From Beyond by Pneuma Hagion

That combination of simple, well-executed death metal with the self-aggrandizing ravings of a demiurgical entity is what makes From Beyond such a success. Pneuma Hagion has been known to dabble in both Lovecraftian and Gnostic themes in their past works, and that trend continues here. As a recovering Christian fundamentalist, the highly scriptural nature of the lyrics adds a satisfying layer of terror that, in my opinion, takes Lovecraftian horror to another level. This album is a psychically delivered hate letter from some mysterious being adrift somewhere in space and time, and the music is the perfect medium for such a message.

If I haven’t spent very much time describing said music, it’s because this is a very simple album for people of very simple tastes. At nine tracks and 24 minutes, From Beyond is a concise treatise on heaviness. Both members play the hell out of their parts; Shane Elwell must blow through drum kits by the sound of the beating he gives his here, and Ryan Wilson’s guitar, bass, and vocal performances are simply thunderous. I saw an interview where Wilson stated, ‘We really try to make the music palpable, like a physical presence with a weight that you can actually feel. I think this new album has gotten closer to our ideal levels.’ I think so too, buddy. I do wish that there was another song or two on the level of the two singles, “Harbinger of Dissolution” and “The Temple Fires,” but the album ends up being a journeyman effort in focused brutality.

While Lovecraft-themed metal albums are a dime a dozen, the way that Pneuma Hagion adorns their particular brand of eldritch horror with theological trappings makes for something gloriously heavy. From Beyond is a simple, concise record, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it isn’t lethally effective. Put this on in the gym, and I guarantee your gainz with be otherworldly.¹

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Websites: pneumahagion.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/pneumahagion218
Releases Worldwide: August 30th, 2024

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