Have you ever wondered what would a union of classic Death, Obituary and old Opeth (Morningrise) sound like? Wonder no more for this Rome, Lazio Italian progressive death metallers have delivered something truly special and delicious with their debut full length "Hypnagogic Hallucinations", coming just 2 years after the eponymous demo (2018). The quartet consisting of Jacopo Gianmaria Pepe (vocals, guitars, synths), Stefano Allegretti (vocals, guitars, organ, keyboards), Giulio Rimoli (bass) and Davide Itri (drums) have both skills and songwriting talent coming out of their (and my) ears, wearing their aforementioned influences proudly on their sleeves but able to come up with tasty hooks and melodies not so removed from the way their fellow countrymen, Sadist do business.

According to Encyclopedia Metallum, the name Bedsore refers to a tissue lesion, with necrotic evolution, which affects the epidermis, the dermis and the subcutaneous layers, until reaching, in the most serious cases, the muscles and the bones. At the same time, read as "suffering of the bed" also has a more veiled meaning, In this sense, the crib is the gate that ferry the human being into a universe dominated by its unconscious fears, dream-like visions, aberrant figures and grotesque manifestations, which are capable to leading the individual to total destruction, rotting the flesh and eroding the mind. In other words, we have a truly deathly creation on our hands and the tracks ooze of filth and cavernous atmosphere, cobwebs and things that will bite, to borrow from Metallica’s "Enter Sandman" lyric.

The material is rather evenly captivating but the first track proper, "The Gate, Closure (Sarcoptes Obitus)" (after the impressive "The Gate, Disclosure (Intro)") could have been a little better. No matter, the following Testament meets "Spiritual Healing" Death "Deathgazer" (so aptly named!) more than makes up for it. The following "Orchid" beast "At the Mountains Of Madness" is even better, I haven’t heard something this apocalyptic and ancient while catchy in years! More doom/death a’la Swallow The Sun with a "Human" Death sheen allows for a proper identification of vocals: a mix of Death’s Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner Obituary’s John Tardy and Opeth’s Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt, can we think of a better combo for progressive death? The album is perfectly rounded up by the somewhat hard core-ish death roll smeared on a slice of classic In Flames-ian bread, with changes on a dime, transitions and acoustic strumming galore – needless to say – a feast for a progressive death metal afficionado of any era!

Truly unique and monstrous, "Hypnagogic Hallucinations" leads the way progressive death should go after Opeth’s departure from death and Chuck Schuldiner’s brutally untimely end. I cannot recommend this enough, despite its few, relatively minor flaws. You need this.

https://bedsoredeath.bandcamp.com/