It’s hard to look at the state of the natural world and be filled with hope nowadays as it really does feel as though piece by piece the very grandeur of it all is wilting away as the human race continues to push forward with little to no thought about its own home or the animals it has lived alongside. But, like many things, salvation can be made simply through the act of learning about how to change your ways and make a difference however slight and help fix problems all across the world in its near-infinite ecosystems. Ever since the beginning of its run, Escaping Aghartha has been a wondrous example of doing so with a death-doom approach that’s as unforgivingly straight to the point as it is engrossing. Turning its gaze to the quickly disappearing aquatic habitats we often overlook, it’s with its fourth full-length album that Escaping Aghartha impresses and illuminates yet again.

At some point or another, we’ve all seen articles about multiple species, whether it be simultaneously or one at a time, disappearing to become extinct in the wild. From snow leopards to humpback whales to the Californian condors, there are a handful of poster children out there that manage to capture our hearts and become saved from extinction. In the case of amphibians when compared to many others, they’re disappearing at a heart-breaking rate of 211 times faster. Such a sentence alone tears the very soul apart when it tries to imagine what all that really means, and it’s with “Croak” that Escaping Aghartha hasn’t just made a record to really capture that despair but a deeper mission to avoid such a fate where the streams are silent of the animals’ singing. Five tracks of utter mourning for the loss of the animals that far too many people forget about and don’t even think twice for, the tone for “Croak” cannot be considered as anything other than truly harrowing right from the very beginning. You can truly feel the anger and sorrow that Escaping Aghartha feels for the amphibians throughout the release as we’re given a devastating sound that manages to transform itself time after time to encapsulate even a little bit of the realm of noise to really bring forth raw fury in an unparalleled sense with the usage of clocks and bells putting the pressure on the listener, creating a sense of time passing that becomes all but claustrophic after a very short time.

To say that Escaping Aghartha has made a viciously potent experience would be to put it in criminally light terms for this is a true call to action through aggressive, nihilistic metal that both shames us as a whole for not doing more while imploring the individual to make real change. And with a vessel of devastating death-doom that was born out of a real passion for the sound alongside a deep love for all of nature and its many critters, how could “Croak” have become anything less than terrifying relevant, and compelling?

“Croak” releases on April 19th!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Croak” on Bandcamp here, or via YouTube below.

LIKE Escaping Aghartha on Facebook here.