There are plenty of moments when bands come together for a split release that we get what feels like an excuse to dish out material that doesn’t quite fit elsewhere be it as standalone singles or B-sides from albums that the bands didn’t feel like having sit around for however many years before they’re well and truly forgotten. Occasionally, though, we get collaborations that really feel as though the best aspects of a sound from different approaches are brought to the table to deliver an unrelenting joint offensive that offers much more than one might expect. For the realm of death-doom, neither Night Hag or Burial are names to underestimate alone. Together, however, they form an assault the likes of which death-doom is always more than ready to accept with open arms with this forthcoming piece precisely that kind of intensity.

Of all the sounds that adorn the vast expanse of the metal underground, there are few other that can compare when a death-doom act comes around in full force with a real understanding of the sound to deliver an eviscerating experience that is as horrific as it is intimidatingly thick in many instances. Both Night Hag and Burial are proficient at bringing about their own forms of undeath in that regard, yet it is together in the form of “Utterances from Below” that each has made for a joint attack upon the light of the universe that feels exceedingly fitting for the sound as a whole. While it was Night Hag’s approach that channels the very bile that pours off the rotting dead as they rise, Burial’s conjurations summon eldritch beasts that our paltry minds are simply not able to comprehend for their vast knowledge and hulking presences drive one mad at a mere glance. Throw into that boiling cauldron a massive presence that extends between both acts, riffs that call lightning forth from the depths of the void itself, and a legion of the unholy rising from forsaken reaches to make war upon the living, “Utterances from Below” quickly transforms itself from what could have simply been a piece that took some of the tropes of death-doom into an album that leaves you wanting more to a massive monolith of a performance that leaves nothing to chance, leaves no survivors, and makes damn sure that the slime of death covers all that come before the combined might of Night Hag and Burial.

Few things can stand in the way of a joint effort that is given the proper attention that it deserves, and this is undoubtedly the sort of piece that pulls that off in tremendous fashion at every given turn without so much as a mark of weakness to be had in its entirety. Whatever it to come next from both Night Hag and Burial, what they’ve done within “Utterances from Below” is of the sort that they should absolutely look upon fondly with it sure to go down as a quick side path in the journeys of both acts, but one that is not to be underestimated nor taken likely whatsoever.

“Utterances from Below” releases on November 10th via Rotted Life!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Utterances from Below” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Night Hag on Facebook here.

LIKE Burial on Facebook here.