Virginia trio Night Hag may seem new, but they actually formed in 2010, and are just about to enter year 12 of a rotting existence. It’s only been since the release of 2018’s “Insemination Rites of the Succubus” that the band’s particularly rancid brand of death metal and fetid doom has taken shape, further solidified by 2020’s split LP with like-minded mutants Cryptic Brood. With “Phantasmal Scourge”, gluey, mid-paced pummeling segues into faster paced, bone crushing heaviness in the kind of drooling caveman drubbing you’d expect from Coffins or Cianide. Night Hag clearly has their own flavor and flair though, and that’s evident in the 9 tracks on “Phantasmal Scourge”, including a cover of “Ghost House” by Mortician, and Necrophagia’s classic “Embalmed Yet I Breathe”. No frills and all stench death metal. - Rotted Life