ANTIVERSUM comes from Zurich, Switzerland. A Black/Death Metal band, they formed in 2010, and have previously released a full length. This is the band's second, and it has five lengthy songs. "Pulsar Feralis" is first. The riff that hits is hard, heavy, and low, and the entire feeling of the song is despondent. The vocals are dreadful howls, furthering this feeling of doom, and the end of the world. The picture they paint is very bleak, indeed, and if you let it suck you into the void, there may never be a return. I feel like I am constantly chasing my tail in this song…each time I reach out to grab it, it speeds up and I can't. This is the kind of haste that the song invokes.

"Scudo-Nero" begins with dissonant tones, and it's another slow grind at first, that the longer you listen, the less of a human you become. It wears you down and twists and torments your mind. It picks up with the infamous "devil's fifth" chord, and soon becomes chaotic, to the point where you can't get your bearings. The landscape is a dull grey, even pitch black at times. Do not look for absolution here. The title track hears the desolation and hopelessness continue further. For me, it's like walking into a snowstorm and slowly getting buried in it. At some point, you look up, and realize there is no turning around. That impending sense of doom is how I feel when I listen to this song.

"QBism" is even darker, and more sinister. In addition to the snowstorm, they throw in a few hungry polar bears who have your scent. They stalk you quietly, until they have you in their sights. Once you are dead, the natural order of the environment returns. "Vuoto" is last, and it is very long, clocking in at over 13 minutes. A cold wind howls in the background, while the riff pushes more harrowing sounds. Filthy gutturals escape the singer's lips, so low that they rattle in your soul. Screams follow, and the landscape turns torturous, and fires spring up from seemingly nowhere. Once they have cleansed the land, their flames burn out.

For me, the album takes place during a period of time when man tries to claim what belongs to nature. Since it's a cold slab of land way up North, man thinks it will be an easy claim. But nature always wins. She fights back subtly, but hard, with a variety of weapons at her disposal. Over time, she not only beats back man, but murders man and covers it up, returning the order as it was established, and waiting patiently for the next group of adventurers.