Equisetum - Cor Ex Putredine

Equisetum is a doom metal band from Italy, who formed in 2025.  “Cor Ex Putredine,” is their full-length album.  This is definitely one of the best surprises I’ve heard in this second half of the year.  There isn’t an EP, demo or anything…just a band that formed a year ago and dropping this monumental album.

It goes through a myriad of different styles of doom.  From traditional, Gothic, to even some of the more extreme forms.  “Cor Ex Putredine,” is a dynamic offering and fortunately its two members have the chops to pull it off.  Vocalist Noctuaria (Nebrus, Urticant) and multi-instrumentalist Mortifero (Ad Omega, Nebrus, Urticant, Nott) are each master of their respective craft—-I mean, they really dropped a stunning debut album here.

The production is awesome.  It's a very balanced approach to the style; its low end is there in a big way but it doesn’t sound like it's going to bust open my speakers, nor does it cover up the riffs.  Speaking of the guitars:  absolutely perfect guitar tone without overtaking the sound.   The drums are settled into the mix at the right spot: powerful and stalwart but not threatening to break the established system apart.

“Cor Ex Putredine,” is an album with a full sound—every song is an assault on the senses because there is always an instrument busting out of the void.  On the opening song, “Aghram,” the guitars cut off briefly, but the bass and drums fill the space with a Godzilla-sized drop.  Noctuaria’s vocals are ghostly enough to be haunted with a Gothic expressiveness but also forceful enough to show a dynamic range and she even uses extreme vocals here and there.  Around the 4:10 mark on “Aghram,” she uses death growls to get her point across while the music claws out with its own attacks.

I find the band, and album, is at its best when it goes on a sprawling dirge, such as on the minute long intro of “Mortuaria.”  This is what it means to doom:  slow, crushing riffs, kick ass vocals, and a rhythm section heavy as the planets combined.  The band is very effective at getting darker and more intense as the songs go, particularly in the later of the song with the echo coming off the extreme vocals. 

Even when the guitars are at their most striking, the bass always pops out as an entity of its own.  “Presenze Oniriche,” is particularly noteworthy in this aspect.  If the guitars are the igneous rock of this band’s volcanic sound, then the bass is the lava underneath.  This song has a seething atmosphere that just gets more acidic, particularly in the mid-section when the extreme vocals hit and the instruments switch to a deadly, hypnotic flow of riffs. 

The final song, “Rhymohr,” is a towering end statement.  The riffs are stark and just grow more ominous.  The vocals are really great here, expressive and just theatrical enough without going overboard.  The drums are a deadly march to the end of the line and push the song into more extreme areas throughout.  This is one of my favorite songs on the album and the harrowing gallops in the second half that result in a maddening cacophony of noise is one of the reasons why.  

Equisetum’s “Cor Ex Putredine,” is how you do a debut album—what a statement, what a performance.  This has the right amount of danger and atmosphere to appeal to a wide range of metalheads and if they are already this good, I can’t wait to see what their second album will bring.  I will be anxiously waiting.  

Rating: Excellent