With great influences like Unfathomable Ruination, Defeated Sanity, and Unbirth to draw from, the modern brutal tech death scene is highly competitive, powerfully muscular, and ridiculously fun. Pittsburgh brutal death quartet Vulgar Mephitis sit comfortably in this space, throwing sickening grooves in between squealing pinches, writhing riffs, and thrashy freakouts at lightning speed. With a simple but effective formula such as this, debut LP From Dust promises all of the same high-octane pleasures the household names in the space set as the standard.
Those aforementioned brutal tech death influences are aforementioned for a reason, as Vulgar Mephitis presents their style as an ideal amalgamation therein. Huge, off-center grooves and disgusting vocal utterances splice muscular Unfathomable Ruination DNA all throughout these lean 26 minutes. Complex time signature manipulations scaffolded by an unrelenting habit of moving from motif to motif without rest recall Defeated Sanity’s MO. Filthy, serrated riffs built on brutal chug sequences and scraping triplet and quadruplet flourishes reek of a potent Unbirth stench sure to saturate my olfactory senses. These are the building blocks of Vulgar Mephitis’ sound, and while I could argue that calls into question how distinct a voice they achieve, it simultaneously verifies their merit as purveyors of worthy brutalities.
One big element that differentiates From Dust from its closest relatives is the vice-like tightness of their songwriting. Save for the first and last songs proper, every track here clocks in between 2 and 3-and-a-half minutes, and the content therein is relentlessly fast, vicious, and uncompromising. Not unlike some of Dormant Ordeal’s material, this animalistic method of attack affords songs like “Exterminating Profane” and “Scorn of My Flesh” a certain tangible sense of danger and of malice that makes hearing them terrifying and exciting. Nick Bentzel in particular exhibits the energy required to make these tracks feel like they’re about to fly off the rails. His acrobatic cymbal work and laser-precise blasts and grooves give “Martyr,” “Peer into the Abyss,” and “Gorging Greed” an elevated scale and an explosive impact that punches with terrible force. That’s no slight to the rest of the band, who deliver destructive payloads with scorching, sharp riffs, eerie leads, and a grotesque vocal array on a constant basis—sure to scare off poseurs and weaklings on a global scale.
Over time, however, I started to notice with progressively greater clarity how much Vulgar Mephitis owes to its influences. A fantastically engaging and brutal assault though From Dust obviously is, it’s also remarkably similar to the high water marks of its peers. In some areas, like the tightly fitted riffs and grooves of “Peer into the Abyss,” “From Dust,” and “Wounds,” I can almost hear both Defeated Sanity’s and Unbirth’s main riff-crafters questioning if they wrote some of what I’m hearing. It’s not quite plagiarism as much as it is a lack of identity that creates that effect, and it holds From Dust back from higher esteem. Additionally, the occasional instance of soft 808 drops, while undoubtedly very stimulating in a live environment, is extremely distracting for me in an album context. This is mainly due to the fact that it takes a while (at least a couple of seconds) for the rest of the instruments to recover from the blast, leaving a patch of muted and muffled measures made muddy by the density of instrumentation trying to breach the surface. As a final critique from a greedy sponge, I wish From Dust was at least ten minutes longer. With an instrumental intro and an extended outro on the final song, 26 minutes is reduced to a paltry 22 minutes of active content, which leaves me starving and malnourished for MOAR br00tality.
Of course, these complaints don’t take too much away from my enjoyment of the existing material, and for most listeners are easy enough to ignore. What remains is an intimidating tear of vicious songs that any brutal tech death band should be proud to have produced. It’s too short, and a touch too derivative. On the other hand, the percussion in particular is insane, and the sheer unchecked energy presented is infectious. Ultimately, there’s no reason From Dust shouldn’t check a significant number of boxes for any fan of brutal fare, and it has near-infinite replay value for its brevity and densely packed detailing. More telling, it’s just the beginning for Vulgar Mephitis. If this is their opening salvo, I shudder to think what will happen once they mature. Gird your loins!
Rating: Good!
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Willowtip Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: September 11th, 2026
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