THE BEAST

Today, Eternal Death announces March 15th as the international release date for Compress' striking debut mini-album, The Final Level of Consciousness, on cassette tape format.

Compress hail from Massachusetts, and formed in 2022. Later on that year, they released their debut demo, evincing a crustier, almost-blackened hardcore-punk sound. Nevertheless, Compress' roots always laid in black metal, and a strive for a purer but no-less-gutted direction began in earnest. Connor Dooley (Morgirion, Lustrum, Misanthropos) eventually joined on vocals, and work began on the band's debut mini-album.

At last here, Compress' The Final Level of Consciousness crushes forward with the weight of a colossus. Marrying the heft of their debut album - grimy, gutted guitars and drums hit HARD no matter the tempo - with a more pronounced emphasis on atmosphere, Compress' debut mini moves both above and below: straightforward physicality waging war against headier throughlines. In that sense, their moniker is absolutely fitting; deeper listens reveal a respectable / respectful integration of first-wave riffing (and headbanging) that gets twisted and gnarled in unique ways, all without betraying the ethics of black metal. Dooley's vocals alternately howl against the storm and succumb to its sheer force, rising above as well as melding into their molten CRUSH. 

Those who claim that black metal is far too often lacking in palpable "heaviness" are encouraged to submit to the onslaught of The Final Level of Consciousness. Compress will perform a tape-release gig on March 15th with Anthropophagous, I Destroyer, and labelmates Ritual Clearing in western Massachusetts. 

In the meantime, hear the brand-new track "Fissured Cosmos" HERE at Eternal Death's Bandcamp, where the mini-album can also be preordered.