GUYOÐ - Death Throes of a Drowning God (Review)

Written by: The Administrator

When promo for Death Throes of a Drowning God, the new EP from Austria's GUYOÐ, hit ye olde inbox, I was suitably intrigued. The title aught my attention, the seasick churn of the artwork reinforced my suspicions, and a quick look at their back catalog had me suitably hooked before even pressing play

Why, exactly? I'm a sucker for a lot of things, musically speaking, but for things that are overt oceanic--as is GUYOÐ's oeuvre--I'm the biggest sucker of all. When vacationing near the sea, I am liable to spend ever single second in the water. I'm not a great swimmer, but I can tread for days. My wife thinks that someday I won't come out, and I agree that she might be on to something there. The call of the abyss is a genuine siren's call, and I think I'd be fine, actually, living down there with the lobsters and the fishes under a reef, lungs be damned.

Actual marine environs aside, I have an overt and fierce love for oceanic metal. Throw waves or a lighthouse or an octopus or a big fish eyeball on the cover and I'm diving in, no questions asked. Metal that seeks and strives to capture a mere fraction of the sea's majesty, power, and near-mythical unknowability is tantalizing. It draws me, riptide-like. I'm pleased to say that GUYOРhave joined the amorphous pantheon of oceanic metal notables with this latest. Their dark blend of black, death, and doom metal is appropriately heavy and morose and bleak. Though the use of both ambient interludes and unpredictable songwriting, Death Throes of a Drowning God feels far more vast than its 29 minute runtime might indicate. It is just unapproachable enough to inspire the kind of curiosity that drives one to swim a little too deep.

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Things start on a watery note with "Signal 00347," the first of four interludes that help set and maintain the stage. Bubbles, submersion, the rapid descent into the depths. There's a deep thrumming aquatic vibration that establishes a sinister menace. Given the crushing pressure of the space we have been thrust into, I was anticipating some slow and mighty doom to present itself, but first track proper "A Thousand Invisible Eyes" instead works itself into quite the frenzy, thrusting forth on the back of blackened riffage that affirms a certain sense of underwater panic. And yet the slower currents do ebb and flow, leading into a surprisingly placid tail end. There's a certain sense of awe that transpires after the chaos, with the inclusion of a choir feeling a little transcendental. While this track does not particularly the most of anything GUYOÐ place on display here, it is a very strong introduction to their habit of melding various genres in pursuit of an abyssal experience. Which I mean, of course, in the best of ways.

After a second brief interlude, the massive "Behind Walls of Ice" slams into the fray with a deathy gravitas that eventually warps into something that feels, paradoxically, brighter and more doomy in equal measure. It's an odd and intriguing effect, and, like everything else here, the track is shifting and polymorphic, less-than contained by the conventions of a specific genre. Much like the real thing, it is mighty and massive and teeming with life despite the impossible expanse. It is dark and desperate inside the void, but there are flourishes. I particularly enjoy the vocals here--as the song goes on, the shouts feel less tied to the song itself, and more to the overarching narrative. They are commands shouted and screeched, desperate cries, expressions of genuine fear. This impressive vocal performance transfers into the following "Vortex of Infinite Despair," which, at its most animated, carries itself with an unhinged energy that translates terror quite effectively. I quite enjoy the seam between this track and the following "Hestia's Drowning," which is the most doom-oriented on the project on the basis of its hefty intro and outro, despite a midsection that squirms and roars with a delightful malice. The doomy elements are arguably the most effective overall on this project; they impart a sense of simultaneous grandeur and horror that feels almost Lovecraftian in scope. As if the horrors of the ocean are not enough. 

While the vocals are, as noted, remarkably effective at reinforcing the tone of terror, the drums have a unique voice, often standing out as an unexpected element in a given track. Indeed, even at its most blackened and blistering, the guitar on a track like "Vortex Of Infinite Despair" somehow never feels quite as frantic as the drums themselves--which certainly isn't a knock on the guitars, which are wonderfully amorphous and fluid throughout. As an example, "Behind Walls of Ice" has some really nice martial drums in the midsection that contrast with the swirling guitar. The aforementioned intro of "Hestia Drowning" features some big hollow drums that impart menace and trepidation. It's the sound of a crew's methodical rowing to evade a sea monster in slow pursuit; the sound of a sea beast's heart heard from the confines of it's esophagus. 

In terms of construction, I know that ambient interludes are often frowned upon, but here I think they add quite a bit to the atmosphere, narrative, and overall listening experience. GUYOÐ's particular brand of genre-clashing chaos, and especially the extremity of the vocal delivery, creates an environment where a breather is appreciated. An oh-so brief calm in the swell. While I do wish there was an extra track in here that brings this EP in to proper album territory, I respect the inclination to leave things as they are and present the project as it is without forcing it.

I'm frankly a little tired of cavernous and subterranean death metal. I want that sweet subaquatic (and very possibly eldritch) doomed black/death metal, and GUYOРhave delivered quite satisfactorily. To listen to Death Throes of a Drowning God is to be buffeted by waves, to float beyond the breakers, to taste the brine, to be swiftly dragged down to the trench-depths by a forest of teeming tentacles. Heartbeat in the ears. The sunlight fades. Lungs crush in moments. Y'know, the dream.

GUYOÐ - Death Throes of a Drowning God was released Jan. 23rd, 2026 via Grazil Records, Corrosion Plague Records.
​Find it here!

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GUYOРcan be found at Bandcamp and their Official Website
Cover artwork: Khaos Diktator