apanthropy

Kontusion
Insatiable Lust for Death
Profound Lore Records
Released: 7/25/25

Rating: 83/100

“Insatiable Lust for Death is like a stabbing attack, its quick, violent, bloody and over just as fast as it began, leaving nothing but spilled fluids and silence in its wake.”

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1 – Endless Horror
2 – Countless Atrocities
3 – Revenge
4 – Hemorrhage
5 – Throne of Skulls
6 – Incarnate
7 – Subjugation
8 – Melting
9 – Horrid Eye
10 – No Escape
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East-coast death metal act Kontusion first ripped into the scene with their 2022 self-titled demo. Now, three years later, the duo of Chris Moore (Coke Bust/Nailbomb live) and Mark Bronzino (Coffin Dust/ex-Iron Reagan) have returned with a full-length offering, entitled Insatiable Lust for Death, released through the mighty Profound Lore Records. Insatiable Lust for Death encompasses ten tracks at only 26 minutes in length, it is a quick, efficient killing blow. Combining modern death metal with elements of hardcore punk, early grind, and the doom death mentalities of bands such as Autopsy and Cianide, the listener is subjected to an experience that is both frontal and atmospherically suffocating.

Wailing feedback opens the record on ‘Endless Horror,’ which sees a punk-style rhythm trading off with punching blast beats underneath sliding power chords and chunky single-note tremolo grinding. Cavernous vocals emerge, bathing the song in a portent of doom. Multiple riff variations spin off the central theme, featuring everything from galloping palm-muted segments to accented harmonics to brief and slicing precision leads.

‘Revenge’ enters on a barrage of a hammer-blasts and blast beats with a deep and ugly central riff that is buried under a thick, stagnant layer of distortion. As the song progresses, bridge riffs build and expand with detail. The song terminates on a half-time section of atomically heavy palm-muted chords and slow pounding drums.

The punk / early grind rhythm is especially prevalent in tracks such as ‘Melting,’ which is a fast, visceral burst of sonic information that quickly cycles through chords, single-note sequences, and screaming soloing over the short course of roughly 90 seconds.

The intro segment to ‘Throne of Skulls’ should easily get a floor of people moving, with its near-tribal drumming mixed with a simplistic, chunky riff of power-chords and plenty of structural space for the riff to breathe. Mark Bronzino deals yet another wailing solo over the song towards the final third of the track.

‘Incarnate’ and ‘No Escape’ are great examples of the old-school grind influence permeating the songs. One is a delivery of machine-gun beats, grinding tremolo, and toxic atmospheric death. The other is a d-beat heavy monster with galloping, grinding guitars similar to In Battle There is No Law-era Bolt Thrower.

While at well under a half hour in length, the songs are not spastic, bursting grindcore despite all the tracks being roughly under three minutes, but well-developed and excellently composed monstrous cuts. Insatiable Lust for Death is like a stabbing attack, its quick, violent, bloody and over just as fast as it began, leaving nothing but spilled fluids and silence in its wake.

Overall, fans of both old-school and new-school death metal ideologies will have something captivating to listen to. Fans of Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, and Cianide, will immediately take interest.

This is another solid debut effort for the 2025 death metal scene.

Label: Profound Lore Records
Band: Kontusion