As soon as the listener presses that play button, the opening piece, Desmatosuchus spurensis, greets the listener with sheer aggression and an atmosphere that continues to the closing piece.
The Lower Mesozoic Exhibit showcases eight tracks, each inspired by a prehistoric creature, weaving together scientific facts and poetic visuals in its lyrics. The band crafts an aggressive yet atmospheric sound using distorted bass lines, drums, and guttural vocals, intentionally omitting guitars to highlight their unique style known as ‘Prehistoric Metal of Death.’
Thecodontion‘s album, Lower Mesozoic Exhibit, roars like a ferocious T. rex, unleashing music that penetrates deep within. The flawless composition and arrangements, both instrumental and vocal, are a testament to perfection. You’ll discover that the band’s approach shuns conventional song structures, opting instead for narrative-driven pieces that capture the awe and enigma of the ancient world. Simultaneously, this artistic creation offers a science-infused lyrical experience, rich in distortion and intensity, seamlessly merging avant-garde death metal with progressive black and death metal.
Thecodontion showcases a robust production that feels both contemporary and polished, yet the audio quality exudes a lo-fi, underground essence. The careful layering of instrumentals adds depth, resulting in a raw, primitive sound. The composition centres around bass guitars—embracing the richness of bass while intentionally omitting traditional guitars. This choice proves effective, as the dual bass arrangement features one instrument delivering rhythmic low-end and distortion, while the other takes on melodic and harmonic responsibilities.
The thick, distorted bass tones serve as both the backbone and the forefront of the sound, frequently mimicking the essence of guitars. Meanwhile, the bass lines are rich, intricate, and layered, delivering a sense of weightiness alongside melodic structure. The drumming is precise and fierce, deeply influenced by death and black metal, usually incorporating blast beats, double-kick rhythms, and tempo changes that align with the evolving themes of ancient times. The vocals are aggressive, characterized by deep guttural growls, sometimes complemented by piercing high-pitched shrieks for added contrast.
Italy’s Thecodontion presents Lower Mesozoic Exhibit, a compilation of their early material, featuring the debut demo and the Jurassic EP. Until now, these ferocious recordings have only been available on limited analogue formats, but they are finally compiled into one release, showcasing the band’s raw and chaotic early sound.
With a foundation in war metal, grindcore, and prehistoric death metal, Thecodontion forgoes guitars entirely, relying on bass-driven destruction to channel the ancient and primal violence of their themes. The lyrics delve into the archosaurs, pterosaurs, and sauropods of the Mesozoic era, perfectly complementing the aggressive musical approach. For fans of Antediluvian, Cryptae, and Mitochondrion, this is an essential piece of extreme metal history. [Chaos Records]
Overall, Thecodontion’s album, Lower Mesozoic Exhibit, showcased a solid fruit of art release and devilmanship achievement, demonstrating that music can thrive without the presence of guitars. While the album initially felt fresh and engaging, the overwhelming feedback created a sense of repetition, leaving a resonant echo in my ears and a heavy atmosphere that had my head nodding in rhythm.
If you’re looking for something dirty, distorted, and heavy and brutal — look no further.
The album comes to an end with the last song, Breviparopus taghbaloutensis (Legacy of the Trackmaker Unknown), as the music takes its musical breath. We want to give a shoutout to Chaos Records for letting us review Thecodontion and their album Lower Mesozoic Exhibit. Now, we’re going to wrap it up by talking about the final three sins and concluding the review.
