After being entrenched in the underground for over a decade, I still cannot believe how malleable and twisting the world of metal can be. As long as you find yourself before a band that has the right kind of daring, vision, and talent, it really can feel as though anything is possible. It’s something that still rarely happens given all that has to occur in order for such a thing to come to life in such an overwhelming form, but when it does occur, it’s an event that demands to be celebrated. Ligation is a name that’s been brewing in the underground darkness for a few years now, and it’s with its first full-length album that this unit offers us an aural assault that’s as unpredictable as it is fascinating.

There are just some things that not even the most experienced or most jaded adventurer of the underground can ever hope to anticipate. Some musicians reach a point where the mere confines of typical genre lines are little more than signs along the road towards a destination that’s far greater than anything along the way. There’s a whole lot of previous experience that the members of Ligation have to boast, and it’s after two splits that their first go at a full-length, titled “After Gods”, that we see the full breadth of what Ligation is already capable of. In no small way, this is a vision extracted from nightmares and given power the likes of which only raw extreme metal wreathed in an experimental nature can ever hope to bring to the table in such an overwhelming and undeniable capacity. “After Gods” is anything but an easy listen. A creation that’s constantly writhing in its own glorious sludge born from a vacuous hunger, death-doom is the core of what’s offered here but is trudged through abstract horror as Ligation works in elements of noise, gut-wrenching contrast that gets under your very skin, and an unapologetic leaning towards the experimental. Quickly, Ligation makes itself known as an aural abomination that’s not to be taken lightly. Where the thick foreboding riffs draw you into this seductive hellscape, the further into “After Gods” you find yourself, the less likely your chances of survival are as Ligation’s machinations and unrelenting bloodthirst move quickly and schizophrenically, albeit terrifyingly effective. And none of this is even taking into account the otherworldly saxophone which adds another layer of unpredictable, unhinged madness to “After Gods” that already had more than enough crazy for thousands of asylums.

Where the realms of daring creativity and soul-crushing nightmares intersect, Ligation thrives. We’ve seen many acts come out of nothingness to deliver unto us terrific displays of power that never once hold anything back and then truly embody creative freedom when met with the unfathomable void. “After Gods” is many things with its influence and multiple tentacles slithering in the darkness, corrupting and consuming all that gets in its way.

“After Gods” releases on January 23rd via Personal Records!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “After Gods” on Bandcamp here.

Ligation does not have any sort of social media account that I could find, so please follow the band via it’s Bandcamp page here in order to stay up to date on the band’s activities.