Kind of lost touch with Highgate – they released an album I loved, then one I was slightly less fond of, and then we drifted apart. These things happen.
‘Prophecies Of Eternal Horror’ places the band firmly back on my radar, by dint of its heft and smothering sickness. Combining shambling doom, elements of black metal and slatherings of beshitted industrial noise, things crawl and lurk, pawing the ground like some hungry, night-dwelling fiend before oozing inexorably on. I’m reminded of bands like Burning Witch and Graves At Sea (the pained gurgles are definitely in the Nathan Misterek ballpark…), though the lapses into pitch-black ravenings and shredded, mind-altered samples place them beyond the ‘pure’ doom of those two acts.
From ‘Terraforming Hell’ (great title!) on it’s all physically bruising and psychically degrading: an ugly, pitch-black release that makes me think I should backtrack and check out the releases I’ve missed over the years.