In a pre-pandemic age, False Gods released a two track EP ‘The Serpent and The Ladder’, a twelve minute musical assault that blended industrial and hardcore influences with a pinch of sludge and black metal, improving upon their earlier work. Via a couple more digital singles and their eagerly awaited full length ‘No Symmetry…Only Disillusion’ (released between 2020 and 2023), the band cemented the feeling that their often uncompromising sound had enough power to take on many of the scene’s most intense bands.

However, very little matches the pure fury of their second full length release ‘Lost In Darkness and Distance’, which presents seven incredibly unnerving workouts. Most of the tracks veer towards the lengthy, which brings an increased feeling of being on the receiving end of a riff-laden machine. Many new listeners will be left feeling browbeaten (at best), but those who’ve already encountered False Gods will undoubtedly love this record.

‘Voice of Treason’ has no intension of breaking the listener in gently. Following a sheet of cold sounding guitar work with an industrial tone, the number hits upon a heavy groove where post punk rhythms and hardcore vocals sit uneasily against more cold, clanging guitar. In many ways, its relentless approach presents the ultimate False Gods jam. Whether attacking at speed or dropping into a slower hardcore breakdown, or even wading through a mid tempo wall of noise to accommodate an extra layer of guitar, the band sound absolutely committed to their art. Even when a lead guitar sounds as if it’s about to drop into an old school solo, only to backtrack at the last second, it’s impossible to feel any kind of disappointment, especially when the hardcore riff that appears shortly thereafter lends the further suggestion that this album will take no prisoners. The vocals, too, are especially impressive: the dual set up allows one one end of Mike Stack’s voice to attack with a shrill, hardcore infused shout, and the other to share a deeper, guttural roar, leaning into more of an extreme metal tradition. Hearing everything combined is to hear something so tight and so furious that the False Gods sound literally pins its audience to a wall, metaphorically speaking, and this opening track certainly paves the way for some equally impressive workouts over the next forty minutes.

Having weeded out any non-committal listeners, False Gods then crank things into even more extreme territory with ‘Straw Dog’, a full on, boots on the floor, hardcore stomper that blends the drum/guitar chug of ‘Stomp 442’ era Anthrax with an even bigger sound, and an uncompromising vocal that attacks every riff with a throat-caning tone. Even when the riffs stop chugging and start to tease with a slower, heavier blanket of sound – eventually culminating in something that sounds like side two of Black Flag’s ‘My War’ augmented by cold, almost black metal guitar lines – the False Gods’ commitment to a head nodding riff is without question and without compromise. “With you all, I suffer” screams the more abrasive of the vocals, adding to the world of noise, before a brief return to the original riff makes everything feel a little more complete. Overall, this is just a little too intense to become one of the album’s more enjoyable tracks, but in terms of showing how brilliantly False Gods approach an extreme arrangement, it’s a fantastic showcase for all concerned.

‘Worldless’ scales back some of the colder aspects, but beefs up the doom and sludge riffs, sharing the kind of weighty sound that Crowbar would’ve been proud of back in the day. In keeping with other False Gods work, however, the band aren’t about to pummel their audience with just the slow and heavy approach over six minutes. The lolloping sludgy riff is interspersed with passages where a pneumatically heavy death metal infused drum part takes over, and in proper False Gods tradition, the doomy is balanced by a second guitar part taking on more of a shrill, Godflesh inspired tone in places. Another aggressive vocal remains as impressive as before, but this number really comes to life during the instrumental passages, since Devin Stracuzza’s bass cuts through with an absolute heaviness. Doomy, sludgy and with the subtlety of a truck, this makes it clear that although most will be listening to Greg March’s guitar lines – at this point, often heard at something approaching full volume – without Stracuzza’s defiant muscle, this number wouldn’t be anywhere near as effective.

Elsewhere, ‘Suffering In A Strange Land’ makes a bigger feature of the rhythm section at first. Without being drowned by a wall of guitars, the listener is afforded a better insight of how much of an intense unit bassist Devin and drummer Josh Harrison can be. By leaning a little further into a more traditional hardcore-sludge blend, the end result mightn’t be as distinctive, but for fans of bands like Neurosis, it could provide an easier entry point into the False Gods’ universe, whilst ‘Imposter’ sounds, at first, like it’ll go completely the other way with a shimmering post-goth guitar line. Being False Gods, this moment of lightness is very brief, and eventually a sludgy bass tone and wall of guitars steers everything back to a post-metal and hardcore blend that will be taken to heart by the already committed fan. There are many features during ‘Enemy That Never Was’, meanwhile, that sound like False Gods staples, reworked to create a truly abrasive racket, but for those keeping a closer ear, the way the sludge occasionally gives way to a huge pneumatic rhythm, and the manner in which a guitar riff – kicking in at just after the three minute mark – nods towards classic thrash, supply enough of a twist to ensure this sounds anything but stale, or even too predictable.

In closing ‘Death Is Listening’ stretches out a little more to make a feature of the cold guitar tones during a slow intro, but it isn’t long before False Gods drop into something heavy and, in this case, the arrival of a massive doom riff brings one of the album’s more classic sounding, weighty moments. Eventually balancing that with some forceful sounding post-hardcore fury, a ringing guitar sound lurches back and forth, whilst two very confrontational vocals do battle in a call and response motif. This would make for a great track, but the band opt for bringing something extra via more of a hardcore inspired riff briefly dropping in and subsequently used to break up the slower, grinding riffs. In terms of bowing out, this doesn’t mess around: it confronts the audience with heaviness, but also covers that with such a bleak and unrelenting tone which makes False Gods sound like a truck. As stated in their press materials, “False Gods are not here to sell you hope.” That should’ve been clear enough by the end of the second track, but in case of even the slightest doubt, this final track comes with such a nihilistic tone, it should be obvious to absolutely anyone left listening…

This isn’t just heavy; it’s also gruelling, immense and brilliantly ugly – all in the best possible way. When it comes to cold, angry sounds peppered with other extreme elements, few are able to command something as massive as an on form False Gods. ‘Lost In Darkness…’ is worth hearing for ‘Voice of Treason’ and ‘Straw Dog’, but has no obvious weak links. Even with the kind of intense vocals that could split opinion, it is easily the band’s best work to date. Perhaps more importantly, it’s also one of the best extreme metal releases of 2025.

June/July 2025