Drastus 

Taphos

Ahdistuksen Aihio Productions 2006

Listening to the new 5 song MCD from the diabolical one man hate machine, Drastus is like being set adrift within an industrial black metal nightmare in which I feel submerged in waves of fuzzed out soundscapes weaved with fibers of brooding malevolence.  The promotional statement calls this raging black metal but I don't feel this accurate.  I mean though there is power and some speed but to me it is not chaotic enough and has much more of a smothering and entrancing quality that is somewhat claustrophobic to my ears.  It is like being trapped in a dream I cannot wake from no matter how terrified the visions that assault and suffocate me.  The production adds to the sense that their is something barely hidden beneath the surface waiting to pull you under and all instruments are fused into a white noise drenched layer of inescapable sleep.  The drum machine pulses and rumbles beneath the slowly uncoiling riffs as they screech and thunder slowly in a droning fashion.  Also the artistic theme of packaging reinforces this theme with all the text and pictures being barely discernable from the solid black background.  It works on a very subconscious layer just like the music.  Though this is essentially black metal, when taken as a whole aural tapestry with all its sonic textures woven into it, the music has a really ambient quality to it which is one of main reasons Drastus is so evocative to me.  Drastus has expanded beyond the borders of traditional black metal realms.  I get a real sense of consuming atmosphere as well as a musical journey into realms of supreme darkness.