Even if you aren’t yet acquainted with his music, you know Mark Riddick’s art. The prolific illustrator has made iconic covers for Arsis, Horrendous, Gravehill, and dozens of others, and his instantly recognizable style has made him a go-to in underground metal circles. It shouldn’t be any surprise that the old-school death metal he makes under the Fetid Zombie moniker is every bit as demented and meticulous as his work with pen and ink. Riddick’s new mini-LP, Transmutations, is the latest sickening symphony in a discography that includes more than 25 full-lengths, EPs and splits. Thus far, we’ve heard “Conscious Rot” and “Deep in the Catacombs” from Transmutations, and today, Decibel is thrilled to premiere the spacey, proggy “Beyond Andromeda.”
On an album loaded to the gills with heater riffs, “Beyond Andromeda” is an off-speed pitch. It’s built around melodic guitar leads and John Carpenter-esque synth and anchored in Riddick’s throaty growl. In a tight three-and-a-half minutes, the song taps into a cosmic vastness that lesser bands would need twice as long to invoke. Riddick stays undefeated.
Preorder Transmutations from Transcending Obscurity here.
