Album Review: Vertiginous – Incessant Affliction (Comatose Music)

Incessant Affliction is the second full-length album from Indonesian brutal death metal duo Vertiginous, due for release on 7th August via Comatose Music.

Following their 2024 debut, Reek Of Putrefaction On Excruciating Lust, Vertiginous have wasted little time in returning with another collection of uncompromising brutality. Consisting of multi-instrumentalist Hendika Dwi Prasetyo and vocalist Jossi Bima, the duo have established themselves as purveyors of savage, no-frills brutal death metal, balancing overwhelming intensity with impressive musicianship and an unflinching commitment to extremity.

Incessant Affliction sees Vertiginous delve even deeper into themes of madness, suffering, despair and gore across ten new tracks. Described as a relentless barrage of monstrous riffs, frantic drumming and bestial vocals, the album aims to surpass the devastation of its predecessor with a sharper focus on atmosphere and sheer sonic violence. Mixed and mastered at Endless Gruesome Studio and featuring artwork from renowned artist Bvllmetalart (Avulsed, Defeated Sanity, Massacre), the record arrives backed by Comatose Music and looking to further cement the band’s growing reputation within the brutal death metal underground.

With 10 straight and to the point tracks to get into, Incessant Affliction kicks straight into gear with the opener, Suffering, Misery and Slaughtering. It’s dark and heavy sounding, with an emphasis on brutality and extremity. Harsh riffs and drums blast away while the vocals are grunted and growled at you in wave after wave of filth and brutality. There is a very raw sound to the drums in particular, which grated on me a little at first, but I soon found myself appreciating it as it actually adds quite a bit to the relentless attack from Vertiginous. It’s a strong opener where, brutality and death aside, there are some really cool riffs and drum beats going off too.

Tortured With Endless Despair is another attack on the senses, with a faster and more aggressive pace than the opener. The drums sound like machine gun fire at times and, while the similarities between songs are already starting to bleed together, some added guitar flair helps to keep things feeling fresh.

Mutilated With Anguishes keeps the trend of pleasant track names going too and comes at you hard and fast straight from the off. The drums are great – I’m still not 100% sure on the sound of them, though, and at times they swallow the riffs a bit too. Behind those drums, however, there are some really cool driving riffs that will get your head banging along, but they are often lost beneath the percussion. Vocally, there is certainly a lack of variety. It suits the style, but not necessarily my personal taste.

Chaotic In The Weakened Reason doesn’t dampen down the heaviness, or the drum volume, at all, but even within the maelstrom of madness on offer there is catchiness, and some added variety from the guitars helps to break the album up, give the song a clear identity and keep you engaged. A little switch-up halfway through shows Vertiginous as much more than a one-trick pony too. They keep things extreme, but drop in tons of groove and high levels of catchiness.

The first half of Incessant Affliction closes with Engraved Loathing and, at nearly four minutes long, it’s not an instantly easy listen. It is heavy as hell, with strong vocals, impressive drumming and punishing riffs, but could probably have done with being a minute shorter. They are very good at what they do though and, if you like things extreme, you have definitely come to the right band.

Uncertainty In Abstract Destiny follows the same path as the previous tracks, with deep guttural vocals embedded into crushingly heavy riffs while the drums rain fire down. A couple of pace changes throughout the song are very welcome, taking things into proper slow and meaty territory before the aggression relaunches us back into extreme levels once again.

Crucified In Fate Hesitation then goes for an all-out assault with two-and-a-half minutes of blasting death metal. It’s harsh and heavy, still suffering a little from the drum production, but it’s a nice, solid slab of anger and intensity.

Incubated Inquietude keeps the energy and aggression levels high with another hard and heavy song. The intros are really starting to bleed together now, especially as the drums are so prominent. If you played me the first 10 seconds of almost any song on Incessant Affliction, I think I’d struggle to tell them apart. Thankfully, as this one progresses, we get far more standout and unique moments. Little guitar flourishes, sections where the riffs step forward, and tempo changes all make the song much more memorable overall and help freshen up the album too.

Nearing the end now, Restrained In Obscurity is our penultimate track. The pace drops into a nice, chunky groove while the menacing vocals and harsh drum sound keep us firmly in extreme territory. There’s some nice guitar work here and more clever transitions between tempos. It almost feels like Vertiginous are using that approach more and more as the album progresses, which is good to hear.

Incessant Affliction comes to a close with Unclear Misery, another short and to-the-point song that doesn’t really offer anything too different from what we’ve heard so far on the album, but it all comes together well. It’s very heavy and very aggressive, with a welcome tempo change adding a little extra variation. In the slower, groovier sections, the riffs become much more prominent, which really benefits the song. When the pace picks up again, however, the drums tend to take over a little too much. It’s a very strong ending to a decent album, though.

Incessant Affliction does exactly what it sets out to do, delivering a strong blast of aggressive and extreme death metal from start to finish. It can become a little repetitive, with some definite track bleed, while the drum production occasionally overpowers the guitars, leaving the riffs crying out to be louder. However, there’s a lot of promise here and Vertiginous clearly know how to write crushingly heavy music. If you’re simply looking to bang your head and raise a little hell, Incessant Affliction should see you through nicely.

Track List

1 – Suffering, Misery and Slaughtering

2 – Tortured with Endless Despair

3 – Mutilated with Anguishes

4 – Chaotic in the Weakened Reason

5 – Engraved Loathing

6 – Uncertainty in Abstract Destiny

7 – Crucified in Fate Hesitation

8 – Incubated Inquietude

9 – Restrained in Obscurity

10 – Unclear Misery

Vertiginous Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Comatose Music