{"id":36311,"date":"2025-07-31T17:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T17:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/36311\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T17:58:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T17:58:08","slug":"cordyceps-hell-inside-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/36311\/","title":{"rendered":"Cordyceps – Hell Inside Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written By: Nameless-N00b_604<\/p>\n

\"\"Artists don\u2019t necessarily need to draw deep from their inner lives to make enjoyable art, but they do to make great art. Denver, Colorado\u2019s Cordyceps\u2014whose debut EP drew acclaim from the late, great Trevor Strnad\u2014have dug deep on their sophomore album Hell Inside and dredged up something nasty. A meditation on struggle, pain, and the time an ex-friend stabbed vocalist Rafael Gonzalez three times in the chest<\/a>, Hell Inside portrays the tortured psyche by way of a metaphorical cordyceps fungus<\/a> infecting and ravaging the mind. Cordyceps have done the soul searching needed for something special. But is it something special?<\/p>\n

The title Hell Inside isn\u2019t only a declaration of the album\u2019s themes: it\u2019s also an apt description. Paces shift frenziedly on \u201cFilth\u201d and \u201cI Am Hate\u201d while riffs chug and squeal on \u201cObliterate\u201d and \u201cFlock of Sheep.\u201d Hell Inside\u2019s guitar solos evoke Slayer with DeLorean Nero\u2019s dive-happy antics (\u201cMurder All,\u201d \u201cFlock of Sheep\u201d) while drummer Michael Nolan commits percussion abuse with concussive and groovy octopus-handed drum fills. Meanwhile, bassist Chris Rosset brings a clicky, bludgeoning Cannibal Corpse-like tone and aggression throughout the runtime. Though death metal to the core, Hell Inside emits the occasional whiffs of thrash (\u201cFlock of Sheep,\u201d) doom (\u201cDiseased Mind\u201d), and even a little Panteraesque groove metal qualities (\u201cI Am the Plague\u201d) to stir up the mix. Much of Hell Inside\u2019s appeal is that \u2013 bear with me \u2013 of deathcore, reveling in ridiculously down-tuned riffs, start-stop rhythms, and brown-note vocals. But Cordyceps isn\u2019t beholden to deathcore\u2019s reliance on breakdowns and instead fuels their pandemonium with a near-relentless fervor at times reminiscent of Ascended Dead\u2019s Evenfall of the Apocalypse<\/a>. Instrumentally, Hell Inside possesses the callousness of industrial machinery biting through fingers and is sure to nuke any unprepared listeners into fine assdust.<\/p>\n

\ufeffHell Inside by Cordyceps<\/a><\/p>\n

But where Cordyceps\u2019 vulnerability \u2013 their volatility \u2013 originates is Gonzalez\u2019s vocals, the easy highlight of Hell Inside. He hardly sounds human, spitting wet, unhinged gurgles that at times sound like Lovecraftian squid-men (\u201cDiseased Mind\u201d), dying animals (\u201cObliterate\u201d), Afterbirth\u2019s Will Smith (\u201cRegret\u201d), and, at 2:14 in \u201cObliterate,\u201d the nightmare echoes from the truck stop toilet bowl of Hell. But there\u2019s a technicality behind Gonzalez\u2019s vocals, too: see the obscene low notes of \u201cDiseased Mind\u201d or the twenty-six-second run in \u201cObliterate\u201d taken in what sounds like one breath. Through it all, Gonzalez seems to muster every negative thought he\u2019s ever had, evoking feelings of inner turmoil, misanthropy, and betrayal in manners both disturbing and cathartic. In short, Gonzalez\u2019s vocals are the lifeblood in Cordyceps\u2019 candidemia-ridden arteries.<\/p>\n

The blood runs somewhat cold, however, when crafting standout moments. No song is a stinker, and runtimes never drag, but the formula of chug-chug-trem-GUUUUUURGLE dilutes eventually. While the closer \u201cRegret\u201d is as good as the opener \u201cFilth\u201d in a vacuum, it\u2019s not as engaging forty minutes later. The band also over-employs start-stop breaks to transition between movements, which are effective on early tracks like \u201cFilth\u201d but become predictable with overuse. The few atmospheric bookends on Hell Inside, like the piano-closing \u201cSuffocating,\u201d feel superfluous. Rather than merging one novel idea with another, they just bridge one onslaught of death metal to the next. Generously, they can be seen as breaks for your ears, an unfortunate necessity given the album\u2019s strident, undynamic mix. It\u2019s got its memorable moments \u2013 the singular synth tone in \u201cDiseased Mind,\u201d Gonzalez\u2019s declaration that he\u2019s \u201cGONNA BLOW [his] FUCKING BRAINS OUT\u201d in \u201cMurder All\u201d and the aforementioned toilet deluge from \u201cObliterate\u201d \u2013 but Cordyceps found something good on Hell Inside and perhaps did too much of it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hell Inside is a buckshot to the brain of visceral death goodness, an unbending divulsion into mankind\u2019s worst tendencies. Though I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll draw in many who aren\u2019t already sold on brutal death metal, its fans are sure to embrace this entry into the subgenre. Monotony issues notwithstanding, Hell Inside is a twistedly fun listen, and hopefully Cordyceps will one day take the rage and talent they brought here and turn it into something even more adventurous and memorable that\u2019ll grow fungi in my brain. After what they did in there already, there\u2019s room enough for a new growth.<\/p>\n

Rating: Good
DR: 5 | Review Format: V0 MP3
Label: Unique Leader Records<\/a>
Website: uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com<\/a> | facebook.com\/cordycepslv<\/a> | Instagram.com\/cordycepslv<\/a>
Release Date: July 25, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:\n<\/p>\n