Poisonous – Perdition’s Den (2012) Vinyl Review | Brazilian Death Metal Cult
⛤ Death Metal |
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Drop the needle on "Perdition’s Den" and there’s no build-up, no intro piece to ease you in — just immediate, cavernous Brazilian death metal punching straight out of the speakers. Poisonous sound like they crawled directly out of late-’80s/early-’90s darkness, carrying that rotten Sarcófago / early Sepultura aura but dragging it even deeper underground. On black vinyl the record feels dense, airless and hostile in the best possible way: pure metal of death, no gimmicks, no polish.
The core of the album is the riffcraft. "Subterranean Rules" opens with a lumbering, sinister motif that quickly mutates into blasting chaos, and from there the band barely lets up. The guitars carve jagged, Immolation-style chords and Incantation-like, downward-spiralling progressions, but Poisonous never sound like copycats — there’s a loose, feral South American edge that keeps everything feeling dangerous and slightly unhinged. The tone is thick and gritty rather than hyper-scooped; every tremolo line feels like it’s clawing out of a crypt.
Side A is basically a nonstop sermon of blasphemy. "Worthless Christ" and "Creeping Impurity" hit that sweet spot where the riffs are memorable without sacrificing brutality, shifting between mid-paced stomps and frantic bursts of speed. Shorter pieces like "Demons" act almost like cursed interludes, tightening the atmosphere before the longer tracks resume the assault. By the time "Blasphemy Arises for the Knowledge" closes the side, you’re knee-deep in a murky, suffocating mood that feels both old-school and strangely timeless.
Flip the record and the title track "Perdition’s Den" shows the band at their most commanding — a perfect blend of thrashing forward momentum and doom-laden heaviness, with vocals that sound like they’re echoing from a tomb. "Under the Blessing of Death" slows the pace just enough to make every drum hit feel crushing, while "From the Infernal Rift" functions as a brief, eerie bridge straight into the epic closer "Black Clouds and Fever", arguably the most atmospheric song here. That final track stretches out its ideas, layering ringing chords and more open spaces without losing the suffocating sense of dread.
Production-wise this LP sits in that perfect zone: grime-caked and cavernous but still clear enough to follow the riffs and drum patterns. Recorded, mixed and mastered at Studio 60 in Salvador, the sound leans into natural reverb and saturated mids instead of trigger-happy modern compression. The drums feel like a real kit in a room, the bass rumbles underneath instead of disappearing, and the vocals sit in the middle of the storm rather than floating on top. It’s the kind of mix that rewards volume — the louder you spin it, the more the room seems to shrink.
Songwriting is surprisingly tight for something this feral. Poisonous don’t clutter songs with endless riff salads; instead they work with a small set of motifs and twist them just enough to keep each track distinct. Tempo shifts are handled organically — blasts collapse into lumbering doom sections, which then spill back into fast tremolo runs without ever feeling forced. That sense of flow is what gives "Perdition’s Den" its replay value: you can bang your head along to the obvious hooks, but there’s also a lot going on in the details if you listen closely.
On this 2012 black vinyl pressing the atmosphere really comes alive. The low-end punch of the bass and kick drums benefits from the format, and the guitars carry that extra grain of saturation you want from old-school death metal. The printed insert with lyrics and band photos completes the package — it feels like a proper underground artefact, the kind of LP you want to spin late at night while reading the words and staring at the hellish cover art.
Is it reinventing death metal? Not at all — and that’s part of its appeal. Poisonous lean hard into the classic template: blasphemous themes, murky atmosphere, riffs that owe as much to doom as to thrash. A couple of songs walk similar paths structure-wise, and the record isn’t out to surprise anyone chasing technical fireworks or ultra-clean production. But judged as what it clearly wants to be — a barbaric, honest slab of Brazilian old-school death metal — "Perdition’s Den" more than earns its cult reputation.
Tracklist:
A1. Subterranean Rules – 5:03
A2. Worthless Christ – 3:28
A3. Creeping Impurity – 3:28
A4. Demons – 1:08
A5. Blasphemy Arises For The Knowledge – 4:36
B1. Perdition's Den – 4:15
B2. Under The Blessing Of Death – 4:04
B3. From The Infernal Rift – 1:18
B4. Black Clouds And Fever – 5:23
Credits:
Alex Rocha – Drums
E. Evil – Bass
Michael Hellriff – Vocals, Guitar
Recorded, mixed and mastered at Studio 60, Salvador (BR) between November 2009 and April 2010.
Cover illustration & layout concept – Alex Rocha
Logo – Christophe “Volvox” Szpajdel
Links:
Bandcamp *
Instagram
💀 Label: Blood Harvest Records
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