{"id":1187169,"date":"2026-09-05T03:27:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T03:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1187169\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T03:27:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T03:27:18","slug":"aucausal-intrusion-vomit-meditations-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1187169\/","title":{"rendered":"Aucausal Intrusion – Vomit Meditations Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In an act of unconscious serendipity, shortly before beginning this review, I re-read Jean-Paul Sartre\u2019s Nausea. The serendipity is not in the proximity between Nausea and Vomit\u2014though that\u2019s also interesting\u2014but in a particular manner of revelation. There\u2019s a part in the book where our protagonist, suddenly seized by a violent attack of his titular malaise, rushes near-blindly through the streets, and his thoughts become fragmented into repetitive near-word-association as he begins to confront the horror of things existing. The lyrics of Acausal Intrusion<\/strong>\u2019s fourth album, Vomit Meditations, are disjointed and uncanny in precisely this sense; reading them instantly linked these two works in my mind. The music itself is no less viscerally chaotic and confrontational, as the duo step into what\u2019s possibly the heaviest and strangest iteration of their already intense and avant-garde sound so far\u2014one which pairs perfectly with a life-altering existential crisis.<\/p>\n

Vomit Meditations lives up to its moniker as it sees Acausal Intrusion<\/strong>\u2019s signature hyper-dissonance and unsettling contemplativeness contorted into a bizarre series of violent spewings, punctuated by uneasy moments of reflective resonance, even beauty, to which Panpsychism\u2019s doomier shades are confined, channeled through the acoustic and ambient. The free-jazz influence is stark, and not only in the prominence of piano in the album\u2019s stiller passages (\u201cVomit Meditation,\u201d \u201cPsychic Abolishment\u201d). Twisted guitar lines\u2014more Cosmic Putrefaction<\/strong> or Ad Nauseum<\/strong> than Gorguts<\/strong>\u2014writhe up and down and in and out of focus above the churning miasma of impossible tempos and abyssal belches\u2014unheard this side of Portal\u2014<\/strong>their seeming stochasticism belied as they coalesce into a shape more than their sum. Spasmodic scales and sudden lead switches from which one reflexively recoils start to make sense, and the real melodicisms that arise over the runtime grow more apparent. Recurring seizures of percussion grow hypnotic as the curve of their circularity becomes clear (\u201cConvex Hidden Echoes\u201d), and a ringing mass of wails and riffs rises until the overlapping tones produce the illusion of symphonics (\u201cPsychic Abolishment\u201d). The barrier to entry remains high, but the rewards are significant.<\/p>\n

\ufeffVomit Meditations by ACAUSAL INTRUSION<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s in this paradox of chaotic reasoning where Vomit Meditations develops its vice grip. With alluring psychedelic rock (\u201cVomit Meditation\u201d) it beckons its subject in, and with a chilling nocturne it leads them to the final, most awful revelation of all (\u201cPsychic Abolishment\u201d). With barely a beat between the unironic beauty and the hellish cacophony, the latter in particular gains near-transcendence. Although the album is marked by repeated 180-degree turns in rhythm (most aggressive on \u201cUsurping Vaporous Primal Vibrations\u201d and \u201cConvex Hidden Echoes\u201d), it has an unexplainable almost groove, which actually becomes explicit at times (\u201cVital Transformation\u201d), and the endless about-turns and restless rolling and crashing morph into a hideously compelling dance (\u201cVomit Meditation,\u201d \u201cRequiem Murmur\u201d). Once again, I struggle to believe drummer and vocalist Cave Ritual\u2019s humanity, hearing such things. Although guitars jump in and out of focus (\u201cUsurping\u2026,\u201d \u201cPsychic Abolishment\u201d) with riffs mostly possessing a stabbing, dragging, flailing discordance as though Nythroth\u2019s fingers were strangling the very instrument used to produce them, their purpose never fails to manifest in the organic yet unpredictable shapes they create (\u201cConvex\u2026,\u201d \u201cRequiem Murmur\u201d). Plus, there\u2019s a lot more melody infused into the music than an uncritical ear would like to acknowledge (\u201cVomit Meditation,\u201d \u201cVital Transformation\u201d).<\/p>\n

\"\"Vomit Meditations also largely improves on areas where previous records fell short. It flows with remarkable ease considering its freeform style and considerable 50-minute runtime and grows more compelling as it progresses. The second half\u2019s superiority is arguably down to paying off what is better than the first in pacing, intrigue, and memorability, though arguably this is dependent on the first half having set up the themes it pays off. The production, continuing to be rich and dynamic for death metal but with the vocals and drums relatively forward, works better than it has previously. I\u2019d recommend listening on a pair of good headphones that will enable you to catch the myriad horrors occurring within the soundscape. Nonetheless, the mix, as well as the relentless complexity and improvisational feel, will persist in alienating many listeners. Though Acausal Intrusion <\/strong>distinguish themselves from the ultra-extreme-for-extremity\u2019s sake crowd by demonstrating that they can turn apparent randomness into a form of reason, they could perhaps tone it down just a tad.<\/p>\n

Vomit Meditations is Acausal Intrusion<\/strong>\u2019s best album. Some will interpret this as damning with faint praise an album in a discography otherwise too ugly and over the top to be good. I mean it quite differently. Vomit Meditations is violently, masochistically enjoyable and multifaceted and arresting, and it gets better on each spin. It requires a certain receptiveness\u2014what experimental extreme metal doesn\u2019t\u2014and Acausal Intrusion<\/strong> will maintain a modest following, but its mania feels so deliciously meaningful I don\u2019t even want to try escaping it.<\/p>\n

Rating: <\/strong>Very Good
DR:<\/strong> 8 | Format Reviewed: <\/strong>256 kbps mp3
Label<\/strong>:<\/strong> I, Voidhanger Records<\/a>
Website: <\/strong>Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide:<\/strong> September 4th, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an act of unconscious serendipity, shortly before beginning this review, I re-read Jean-Paul Sartre\u2019s Nausea. The serendipity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1187170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3936],"tags":[45789,10268,172582,321771,12295,11463,321772,12936,111734,77,216833,15748,269,166092,6080,6082,320502,18503,16,15,321773,321774],"class_list":["post-1187169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-45789","tag-3-5","tag-acausal-intrusion","tag-ad-nauseum","tag-american-metal","tag-black-metal","tag-cosmic-putrefaction","tag-death-metal","tag-dissonant-death-metal","tag-entertainment","tag-experimental-death-metal","tag-i","tag-music","tag-portal","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-sep26","tag-technical-death-metal","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-voidhanger-records","tag-vomit-meditations"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117216312508544162","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1187169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1187170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1187169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1187169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1187169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}