Malignant Aura: Abysmal Misfortune Is Draped Upon Me

- As their name implies, Brisbane/Meanjin based Malignant Aura are merchants and conjurers of evil, and their long awaited debut album Abysmal Misfortune Is Draped Upon Me is the most recent and devastating release from purveyors of all things death, doom, crust, black and thrash, Bitter Loss Records.

Malignant Aura is not “Death Metal” or “Doom Metal”, but “Death Doom Metal”. I make this distinction to avoid any confusion, and possible retribution from disciples of the genre. Forgive my abysmal attempt at humour, but some may remember the 2014 episode of the Simpsons where they incorrectly labelled Judas Priest as “Death Metal” and fans of the band revolted. In the next episode Bart is seen writing the line ‘Judas Priest is not “Death Metal”’ on the board in detention. I digress, but it is an important distinction. Metal is laden with sub genres, and this particular one just so happens to be this reviewer’s favourite.

Another tidbit for you: in a study published in the academic journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience in 2015, psychologists found that participants exhibited decreased levels of hostility, irritability, stress and increased levels of inspiration and motivation after listening to extreme metal. The major limitation of this study is that it was conducted pre-Malignant Aura. Your production of adrenaline upon listening to these six tracks over fifty-five minutes will be unprecedented and every orifice of your body will be pummelled with bleakness and malevolence.

So, more specific information about this album, it is a review after all… Since a demo in 2018, Malignant Aura have been carefully curating their sound and aesthetic. This long player is aided by the wizardry of Brendan Auld (of Descent and Snorlax) who mastered it at Black Blood Audio, production from Arthur Rizkim whose recent works include Power Trip, Code Orange and Cavalera Conspiracy and the Italian horror art and surrealist painter Paolo Giradi who has created a masterpiece for the cover. For reference, the sound is best described as akin to death doom lords Hooded Menace and Paradise Lost but on a more local level this will rouse followers of moguls Disembowelment and Mournful Congregation. It festers with slow atmospheric sludge, reverb, sustain and growl and balances this with ferocious and at times urgent blackness. It’s guttural, it’s macabre, it’s grotesque, it’s part funeral doom and it has a thickness of sound with two guitars layered against bass, drums and vox. My last rumination then. Of course there will be naysayers who parrot that this album doesn’t tread any new ground and open portals out of the abyss, but this is a weak argument. Every aspect of this album enhances the legacy of death doom and raises the bar in doing so. Best be warned then: if you are not open to expanding your mind within this genre, shock therapy and the ensuing belligerence and terror, don’t waste your time, you’re not worth it.

- Tristan Birrell.