When we peer into history when looking through the lens of metal, it’s rare that we find ourselves going back any further than maybe a couple hundred years for one reason or another, but it’s truly rare to come across a band that takes things into pre-history. It can be quite challenging to make a worthwhile listen for many bands when faced with that specific concept, but some manage to thrive with such a topic. Thecodontion has been no stranger to prehistoric metal with their blend being particularly potent, and it’s on their latest endeavor that they bring Vessel of Iniquity into the fold to make for an even more compelling take.

It’s right out of the gate before even listening to a single note from this split that I could tell you that Thecodontion would absolutely live up to their expectation with their two songs out of the three given here in “The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event” being not just a continuation of that band’s eviscerating sound, but an evolution however slight. To really show how much your band has just in not even two years with just twelve minutes is a hard task to achieve by all means, but Thecodontion was more than up to the task as their particular brand of crushing black/death is as satisfying and unrelenting as the other works that the band has put out over the years with their last record still being quite a work by all means, and it’s in every inch of their performance here that shows us they’re not just a one-trick pony of a band that does one solid work and then has nothing more grand to do or say. Rather, they keep their sound relevant and become more and more efficient as the machine of time rolls forth. But then there’s Vessel of Iniquity who is still relatively new to my ears, but I couldn’t help but feel both very confident in their performance before even hearing it given their track record while also feeling apprehensive. Barely even two minutes into their part of this work named after the cataclysmic event, The Great Dying, I don’t think we could’ve asked for a better companion for Thecodontion to have brought along for this world-ending split. “The Great Dying” isn’t just an eleven-minute dirge for a patch of forest on fire or a sea being eroded away by the gradual migration of continents, but, rather, the death tolls of billions of life forms that almost literally ceased all life on this planet with every second of the performance being done absolute justice by Vessel of Iniquity. It contains the wispy echoes of those burned away by unending flames, fish choking on the very thing they need for survival, titans of pre-history collapsing in mass starvation, and extended moments of near-silence where you can hear the raspy breaths of the Earth itself as it reels in apocalyptic pain, but also the defiance of those who thrived in such defiance that rose above to not only survive but utterly dominate the world of hundreds of millions of years after.

“The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event” is the best account of a historic killing off that I have ever seen no matter the original topic, and I simply cannot get over how masterfully both Thecodontion and Vessel of Iniquity overcame together to make a split that will be held as a personal standard of mine going forward for everything that a damn good split can and should be. There isn’t a single moment spread throughout this destructive account that isn’t to be oozed over, and I can only hope many eyes will be on both of these bands going forth as they have shown to deserve without question in these 23 minutes of raw fire and blood.

“The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event” releases on September 3rd via I, Voidhanger Records!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Thecodontion on Facebook here.

LIKE Vessel of Iniquity on Facebook here.