Heteropsy | Embalming | Caligari Records

 

Release Date: October 31, 2025

Format: CD, Cassette, Digital

Genre: Doom/Death Metal

Country: Japan

Formed in 2020, Heteropsy comes from Japan and share members with Frostvore. While Frostvore go for the straight Swedish death metal sound, Heteropsy describes their approach as “mourning death metal,” combining the heavy buzz of the Boss HM-2 pedal with the slow, dragging sadness of doom. Their sound mixes the bleak atmosphere of bands like Autopsy and Rippikoulu with the melancholy of Switzerland’s Sadness and the violent edge of early Naglfar. After several short releases, “Embalming” marks their first full-length album, released via Caligari Records.

The eight tracks that make up “Embalming” run for nearly fifty minutes and are drenched in distortion and decay. The guitars are tuned to sound like machinery from a forgotten age, grinding and humming through every riff. The drums stomp along with a ritualistic pulse, creating a sense of repetition that suits the death-and-decay theme. The bass hums beneath everything, adding weight to the already oppressive sound. The vocals are buried deep within a tomb, as an instrument within the chaos.

The production captures the old Swedish style in its filthiest form, but it’s handled with enough clarity for every element to sit together without blurring into chaos. The guitars dominate the mix, buzzing like a swarm of insects over an open grave. There’s a kind of cold sadness in the melodies that crawl through “Asphyxia” and “Memento Mori,” while “The Sodomizer” and “Seventh Damnation” lean on more traditional death metal aggression. The closer, “Old Friends,” stretches near ten minutes, moving between dirge-like tempos and sudden eruptions of faster sections, giving the album a fittingly grim conclusion.

“Embalming” sounds like a tribute to the death-doom tradition that rose from the Nordic underground in the 90s, filtered through the strange precision of Japanese musicianship. The atmosphere is heavy, mournful, and unrelenting, and doesn’t rely on experimentation. Instead, it locks into its chosen path and follows it with discipline. The result is an album that drags the listener through its world of rot and sorrow, one slow riff at a time.

For those who appreciate their death metal thick, cold, and steeped in despair, “Embalming” delivers exactly that. It’s not an album with deep analysis but that’s absorbed in a dark room, where the sound of decay becomes something grimly mesmerizing. Heteropsy’s debut is a solid release from a band that clearly understands the bleak power of death and doom merged into one mass.

Score: 7.0

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