Januaryo Hardy is one of the hardest working and most prolific individuals in the Indonesian brutal death metal scene. He is involved in several different bands, but Perverted Dexterity is one of my favorites of his. I've been a fan of them since the release of their full-length debut Primitive Scene of Inhumanity in 2014. They have put out two more full-lengths since then. Spiritual Awakening was recorded in 2017 and their latest, Alacrity for Contemptuous Dissonance, came out this year. You will notice that the album covers have a sense of continuity. Primitive Scene of Inhumanity shows goblins killing and eating their own. Spiritual Awakening shows those same goblins cowering before another goblin in monk robes. Judging by the title, we can assume he is telling them about what will happen to them if they don't fear God. Alacrity for Contemptuous Dissonance shows the goblin monk forcing another goblin to look down a well. One of the songs on this album is called “The Well of Knowledge”, so I'm assuming he is showing what will happen to them if they continue to live in sin.
The music is, for the most part, unchanged. They still play fast and violent brutal death metal of the Brodequin variety, but they also include a greater number of slow slam parts. This is best exemplified by the drums. They spent time playing raging blast beats, then they turn around and play more complex patterns when the pace slows down. This complexity is most prominent on songs like “Cataclysmic Phantasmal Portrait” and “Vapid Existence”. The bass mainly lurks in the background bolstering the rest of the music, but there are times like on “The Well of Knowledge” when it comes closer to the forefront.
Hardy's guttural growls still sound the same as they did on the past two albums and I'm fine with that. It shows that he is consistent. The same can also be said of the guitars, as they still utilize their tried and true formula of palm-muted riffs, tremolo riffs, pinch harmonics, and slow slamming riffs. They are primarily violent and crushing, but some of them manage to sound strange and unsettling, such as the descending arpeggios on the first track. Songs such as “Perpetual Mockery” bombard the listener with sickening tremolo riffs, while others like “Cataclysmic Phantasmal Portrait” that possess a large amount of groove. The album ends with a fantastic display of atmosphere in the form of “Vapid Existence”.
Januaryo Hardy has once again created a fantastic brutal death metal album that features a mix of fast-paced violence, crushing slams, and occasional displays of intricacy. He continues to solidify his reputation as one of Indonesia's greatest metal musicians, and I hope he maintains this high level of quality.