Occulsed Antegnosis Review

Occulsed

Antegnosis

Everlasting Spew Records

2025

“Antegnosis is not a standard English word. It appears to be a constructed term combining the Greek prefix ante- ("before") and gnosis ("knowledge").” Hey, thanks Google! What it also happens to be is the new full-length from Georgia-based death metal outfit Occulsed.

The members of Occulsed are no strangers to the death and/or black metal scene, with a combined 21 years of experience amongst its trio of members (K. Parker – vocals; J. Stubbs – guitars & bass; and J. Moran – drums). Having spent time in various bands across those genres over the years has not only informed their musicianship and songwriting, but also their ability to bring Antegnosis to life all on their own accord, as they recorded it themselves over the course of 2023/2024. The album was mixed and mastered by Stubbs as well. The production here is murky, low-tuned, punchy, and foreboding—not unlike the famed Scott Burns Morrisound Studios classics.

This nine-song release is their fifth outing, after two demos in 2019 and 2020, and two full-lengths in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Occulsed are not different from A LOT of newer death metal bands post-COVID, in that they are mining the rotten ground of old-school death metal. However, that's not a criticism. What Occulsed are doing very well (and in so doing, are separating themselves from the pack) is drawing from the more mid-paced, doomier aspects of that sound, by way of Tampa and Scandinavia. There are passages of clean guitar overlapping long, held-out chords, plenty of tremolo-picked sections, pinch harmonics, subhuman low bass and growls, and dexterously fast drumming that can also groove and plod to masterful headbanging effect. Perhaps it was what I was listening on, but I wish the vocals and drums were a bit louder in the mix, as they are sometimes buried by the very guitar-forward production.

Minor complaints like that aside, at the crux of Antegnosis we get a varied and engaging listen from the opener “Haze of Morbid Slicing” to the very last track “Realm of Debasement” (clocking in at 9:17!). Truth is, the band seems to swirl in and out of mournful dirge to blasting insanity, double-bass-riddled sections, and mammoth mid-paced parts effortlessly, and it is all just very tasty icing on the cake. If I may quote their press, it's “a labyrinth of sonic decay, a necrotic ritual steeped in arcane resonance!” Hard to find fault in that spot-on description, really. Give Occulsed some of your hard-earned dollars and take Antegnosis for a spin. It's a record that is brutally ugly, well (de)composed, and a worthy addition to the OSDM revival scene. Be warned though: this has a bit more teeth than a lot of bands, so you may draw back a bloody stump. It doesn't get any more death metal than that, right?

-RIYL: Incantation, Morpheus Descends, Funebrarum, Blaspherian

~TB