SPLIT REVIEW: Ritual Necromancy / Fossilization

2 titans of Death-Doom Metal join forces here to conjure a short but merciless tome of decay. Out via Everlasting Spew Records on February 25th.

Ritual Necromancy begin the horrors with a 15 minute piece, opening with an instantly desolate plain of grim, sombre riffing atop chasm-dwelling drums to give us a sparse and unwelcoming start. There is a grisly churning rhythm spiced with dissonant flares to unhinged things before descending into a charnel crawl of doomy and eerie atmospherics. Though slow, there is something inherently creepy and yet ultimately visceral about Ritual Necromancy that doesn’t need insanely high speeds to rip flesh from bone in their sepulchral descent through the most abyssal soundscapes. As always, their riffing is utterly superb while the drums retain just as much interesting diversity and the hideously mangled vocals do nothing to lighten the mood. Cavernous is a word that has become synonymous with a certain style of Death Metal, but I do not use it superfluously when I describe the mix and general feel of this music in its reverberate cacophonies of doomed Death Metal excellence. Jumping grooves and warped hooks ensure, though atmospheric, we move further into the desolation awaiting us with obliterating precision and carefully placed jolts into new ground to inject some adrenaline into even the most lethargically zombifying moments. An utterly remorseless piece of truly astounding Death Metal from Ritual Necromancy.

Fossilization continue with fluidity as venomously aggressive riffs warp atop crashing cymbal work to conjure a spectre of savage and malignant Death Metal, most worthy of following the previous offering. The vocals have a more haunting, drawn out delivery that gives some contrast though in an equally respiteless and foreboding fashion that is punishing and yet so rewarding to behold. The riffs slash through layers of blast beats, as do the vocals and the overall murkiness of the mix keeps things to a singular, monstrous vision of contorting extremity. While a sense of energetic rhythm is kept through a percussive attack, the atmospheric side of the music is also rather bleak and unforgiving from an entirely different perspective. This juxtaposition is befitting of both bands and as such makes for a really exciting split as the latter flows further tributaries of tempestuous vitriol from the preceding streams of perturbing musicianship from the prior. Fossilization caused excitement with their debut EP and have shown here their music has only grown and excelled itself with even more interesting soundscapes of morbidity.

A conjoined horror of Death Metal malice of truly superb quality. 3 offerings from 2 of the finest bands in the more doom-laden side of the underground, showcasing their current brilliance in a claustrophobic conjunction of chaos.