Today’s Ask The Artist feature is a particularly fun one, because if there’s one band that treats death metal as a laboratory for biological disasters, dimensional anomalies, and deeply questionable life choices, it’s Texas progressive death metal entity SALLOW MOTH.
The project, spearheaded by the absurdly prolific Garry Brents (also known from GONEMAGE, HOMESKIN, and DEMON SLUICE), has spent the better part of a decade constructing one of underground metal’s strangest ecosystems — a place where spores, larvae, cosmic artifacts, and unfortunate travelers continuously mutate into things no responsible scientist should ever attempt to classify.
Today, Garry answers a very important question.
The Question
“If you could live inside any sci-fi universe, which one would you choose — and which one would you absolutely avoid?”
Garry Brents answers:
“I would live in the Star Trek universe. So much possibility and exploration. One could end up on a less civilized planet but the general ceiling of possibilities of this universe would be great.
A universe I’d avoid would be George Orwell’s 1984. A mass surveillance way of life under totalitarianism without much hope or freedoms to look forward to.”
Honestly, that’s a sensible answer coming from a man who routinely writes songs about dimensional lanterns and humanoid moth-aquatic hybrids.
Even cosmic body horror has standards.
Now onto today’s specimen.
SALLOW MOTH have unveiled “Biohybrid Virulence,” the latest mutation from their forthcoming full-length Hydrophilous Brood, arriving July 24 via Willowtip Records.
And yes, the title sounds exactly like something you should absolutely not allow into Earth’s atmosphere.
Set within Pamugara, a lush dimensional nest where organisms are reborn into unpredictable hybrid species after passing through the enigmatic Mossbane Lantern, the album expands the bizarre world introduced on 2025’s Mossbane Lantern. But don’t mistake this for a concept album that forgets it’s supposed to crush skulls.
Musically, SALLOW MOTH have sharpened their attack considerably. While earlier releases happily wandered across genres, Hydrophilous Brood leans harder into the intersection of technical death metal and brutal death metal, injecting extra firepower thanks to drummer Allen Gingerich.
“Biohybrid Virulence” itself is a thick, choking mass of dissonance and precision. The riffs constantly mutate, the rhythms seem to grow extra limbs halfway through, and Garry’s gutturals emerge from the depths like some ancient amphibian deity that’s very disappointed humanity still exists.
Yet beneath all the chaos lies something remarkably coherent. That’s always been SALLOW MOTH’s greatest strength: even at their weirdest, the songs never feel random. Every bizarre idea, every cosmic detour, every impossible creature serves a purpose inside the larger organism.
The result is death metal that feels alive.
Not alive in a metaphorical sense.
Alive in a “perhaps we shouldn’t touch this with our bare hands” sense.
And honestly, that’s exactly why SALLOW MOTH continue to be one of the underground’s most fascinating projects.
🦠 Hydrophilous Brood emerges July 24. Approach with caution. Or don’t. It’s probably too late already.
SALLOW MOTH BandCamp: https://sallowmoth.bandcamp.com/album/hydrophilous-brood-2
Instagram: instagram.com/sallowmoth
Pre-order the album: https://www.willowtip.com/releases/details/sallow-moth-hydrophilous-brood-lp.aspx
