Ævangelist are a prolific, self-described "New Age Death Metal" duo founded in 2010. Their sound ranges beyond death's standard tropes to encompass aspects of black metal, industrial noise, and experimental music. The pair met while witnessing one another's stage performances as they toured with separate bands (Benighted in Sodom and Shavasana, respectively). Multi-instrumentalist Matron Thorn and vocalist/saxophonist/cellist Ascaris shared a similar point of view regarding the possibilities for extreme music to reflect the margins of excess in human experience, suffering, and psychology. The duo independently issued its debut EP, Oracle of Infinite Despair, a year later. Though it was released in a small print run and minimally distributed, it garnered positive notice from the extreme music press. The label boss of I, Voidhanger in Italy heard the EP, and offered to release a full-length. De Masticatione Mortuorum was released in the fall of 2012 and received widespread critical acclaim for its wide-angle vision and extreme sonic attack. The EP Nightmare Flesh Offering and a split album release with Esoterica entitled To the Dream Plateau of Hideous Revelation followed in 2013. To the latter recording, Ævangelist contributed "Omniquity," a 42-minute track. Their sophomore album, Omen Ex Simulacra, was issued in November by France's Debemur Morti Productions. A subsequent tour showcased the band in an expanded incarnation but without a drummer. Uncharacteristically, their use of a drum machine received exclusively positive reviews for adding to the chaotic intensity of their show. Following this brief tour, Ævangelist set to work on their third studio album. Issued in the fall of 2014, Writhes in the Murk was so experimental -- especially with its seesawing strings and bleating saxophones -- it polarized fans. Some who had been aboard since the beginning decried its noisy approach. Two digital EPs were released the following year: Catharsis was independently released while Dream an Evil Dream came from Debemur Morti. They were the precursors to a fourth full-length entitled Enthrall to the Void of Bliss released by 20 Buck Spin. The band's performance at that year's California Death Fest was recorded and independently issued as a digital EP. Released in the early summer of 2016, Ævangelist announced a split release with Blut Aus Nord on Debur Morti. Billed as an EP, Codex Obscura Nomina contained four tracks by the avant French metal outfit, and a lone 21-minute work by Ævangelist. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi