[Photo by Artem Sapegin]
Welcome to Death Metal Dossier: Remix edition. Dark were the times in between our last published missive and the publication of this declaration. Men have battled. Men have lost. Men have lost blood. Men have lost their lives. But from the ashes arose a new powerful knight wielding a two-handed sword that is nigh thirteen feet in length and seven feet in girth. The blade dipped in the poison lakes of Ur-Sag, tipped with a deadly elixir that only one man can withstand. That man is Ryan. For long did Sir William of Ur-Sag do battle with mere mortals before coming upon the only man that could rile his loins and stir the beatingness of his heart. This is the story of their love.
Manny-O-War, never truly knighted by the despot king, long did serve Ryan as a bodyguard and faithful lover. But it was the blood moon of the harvest season when Sir William of Ur-Sag did approach their modest castle and use his giant sword Crutchwielder, the Poison Sword of Inevitability to pound the gate down. Manny-O-War did rush to the main hall, torch clenched tightly in his right hand and Banesheilder, his ensorcelled sword of mystery, in his left. As each warrior let loose a terrible warcry Ryan did what any beautiful frog prince would do and he hid in a pile of micturated chamber pots.
The warriors screamed. Baneshielder and Crutchwielder rang out as they clashed in the cavernous foyer (Ryan insisted on this name over the more appropriate ‘atrium’). Sword upon hilt. Torch against wooden shield. The battle lasted hours or days or months for no one can tell as time was lost as the magical powers of those two swords combined to make all dimensions one and all universes infinite. Sweat mixed with blood as Manny-O-War sustained small nicks and cuts – ultimately leading to his poisonous demise.
Silence. As Ryan regained his sense and removed the refuse and chamber pots from his sensual, lythe body he realized that the horrible screams and tremendous ringing of swords had dimmed. His senses were heightened. Hair rose into a stiff pallor on his upper lip. He rose. Taller and more erect than ever he strode from the depths of the maid quarters (maintained despite not having any staff to speak of on payroll) to the foyer (as he insisted it be referred to).
Marching silently (for he was always light on his feet – never more than when he danced his legendary stalk waltz) around the corner he spied the scene in the foyer. There stood Sir William of Ur-Sag; muscles gleaming in the still shining candlelight with blood dripping from his long locks. In his hand he held a sparkling gold heart, clearly that of Manny-O-War. He was gnawing at the heart and smearing the blood across his chest and nethers.
Ryan paused. There, on the floor lay his former love, Manny-O-War. Yet he did not cry out. Rather he succumbed to the hyper masculine sybaritic nature of Sir William of Ur-Sag. Ryan lay his head on his shoulder and stroked the blade of Crutchweilder. The poison did not course into his veins for Ryan, in his infinite spirituality, was immune to the poison. Sir William clutched his head in his hands and they crumbled into a tangled, ribald mass on the foyer’s smartly designed entresol. And there they lay for a length that no one knows. But when they arose they were both stronger, more virile, and more ready to smack you in the face with death metal than ever before.
—
Cystic – Palace of Shadows
Release Date: August 11, 2023
Label: Chaos Records
It beeth no secret here at Last Rites that the petite bourgeoisie that write here are somewhat obsessed with riffs. Being that many of us qualify as lumpen proletariats there is also a nihilistic obsession with gluttony. When you combine those two qualities you get a lot of references to riffs that involve food. Rarely is that food salad but we do have one heathenous miscreant that puts salad on his pizza.
All of this is to tell you that if Cystic were a meal it would be riff soup. This collection of broiling tunes frequently changes its pacing and rhythm – frequently offering a slow, monotonous death metal sound that would be cavernous were it not for the viciousness of the vocal work. Their songs then tend to ramp up the speed and pacing to a blastbeat fury with a snare drum that sounds like loose bamboo stick slapping a soldier’s wounded thigh. On tracks like “Duly Drowned” the band showcases a more arhythmic sound that develops into a full speed gallop as if a viscountess was cantering toward a gazebo for a secret rendezvous. You’re getting a wide array of death metal styles with a superb punk base – think of the punk as the croutons.
And what’s truly exciting about Cystic is their reputation as a phenomenal live act to see. So, if you and your miserable peons are ever traveling the Pacific Northwest and happen upon a Cystic show (near Seattle) you should most definitely pay the cover charge with what currency units you carry in your velour pouch. [SIR WILLIAM OF UR-SAG]
—
Triclavian – Pierced By The Spear
Release date: July 22, 2023
Label: Covenant Records (digital), Serpents Head Reprisal (cassette)
Ever try to brutally murder your ego? People tend to think it’s a soft, enlightening, spiritual experience, but–as Sir William and I can attest to in our experiences after performing our binding ritual following the conclusion of that fateful battle–it is a truly violent experience, and, for some anyway, it never really dies. (I mean, seriously, did you actually read that entire intro?!)
Vancouver’s Triclavian mapped out an excellent soundtrack to this battle by coupling ignorantly violent, razor-sharp reflexes and ceremonious, witching blood ritualism to their debut EP, Pierced By The Spear. The diabolical altered vocals and welcome indecisiveness to choose a genre between death, black, and thrash harken to the days of the early British Colombia extreme metal a la Witches Hammer, walking that line of making thrash-rooted extreme metal that just sounds evil and chaotic before finding a home in an ignorant-ass riff. (For a specific example, witness the headsmashing order hammer-forged from chaos on “Esonarthex Satanicus” over the throbbing mushroom-trip waves of the bass).
Oh shit, did you check that Slayer-esque scream at the onslaught of “Carpax Dei?” The bit before it devolves from Morbid Angel doing Black Witchery levels of cocaine into one breakout of a d-beat riff while the lyrics cackle into a cry of “SLIT YOUR FUCKING THROOOOOAT?!” If not, give the closer another pass over: It’s a fukking vicious war ride through hell; and a firm lesson to pay attention to the detail in the seemingly-chaotic flames of Pierced By The Spear. [RYAN TYSINGER]
—
The Glorious Dead – Cemetery Paths
Release date: July 28, 2023
Label: Bindrune
Featuring knights of Pan, Feast Eternal, and Reasonable Deception this toxic cemetery of wrongdoers begin their album simply – an acoustic guitar softly picks out a melody as synthesizers create an ambient background of evil noises. As the second track opens the bands true purpose is revealed: utter decimation of any and all bowels within three thousand cubits. The riffs tear through the fuzzy production canvas. The drums angrily bash out blasts, rolls, fills, and brutality. Which shockingly manages to continue for a full forty-nine minutes. But don’t be fooled by me telling you that the band is ready to rip and road and tear out your innards; there are plenty of breakdown moments throughout the record where you will find yourself throwing dishes against the wall, smashing your toilet with your dad’s pitchfork, and generally decimating your body by hurling it into sharp objects that lieth around you. Tracks such as “Horizons of Ash” slow down to nearly Obituary levels of slow as they glisten with old school death metal references.
“Cadaver Within” reveals yet another absolute ripper of a track. Opening with a vicious beat meant to fly at altitudes unsafe for most livestock the track slowly decays into a plodding, hammering, track complete with chunky, rhythmic riffs.
The Glorious Dead, located in Michigan, sound like a band steeped in the old school yet willing to take advantage of modern implements of musical war to accurately deal out their death craft. This album is not for the weak or physically ill. Rather it’s for the virile young who have ingested enough caffeine to keep up with this blistering pace. [SIR WILLIAM OF UR-SAG]
Miasma Of Occvlt Limbs – Occvlta Caerimonia Putridvm
Release date: March 12, 2023
Label: self-released
Oh, hey, speaking of ritualism and trips through hell, take a sharp left turn into the chasms of Occvlta Caerimonia Putridvm. Want to trade that blistering speed for crushing, lower-than-grandpa’s-balls death doom with atmosphere thick enough to suffocate on? Chile’s Miasma Of Occvlt Limbs has you covered. A new project of Robert Myiasis, who has spent the last decade churning out pathological goregrind under the Gruesome Bodyparts Autopsy moniker (check their newly released, 93-track compilation of bile and filth here), Miasma Of Occvlt Limbs marks a decidedly different direction while retaining Myiasis’ knack for creating rich textures and fascinating sounds.
The three track, thirty-minute album trades the bodily torment for one of spiritual horror. Following the blasting barrage at the opener, “Devorant Corpus Meum in Tenebris Putridum,” the bells’ chimes usher in a diabolical journey full of twisted blackened riffs, unholy whispers, harrowing growls, and looming, lurching double kick drums. The dynamics are incredible: not only does the songwriting keep the tension/release paced throughout, but the way in which the music is colored by the production really brings it to life. The guitar can be felt resonating deep within the loins. The way the sharp snare attack sits crisply above the sinking, downtuned murk of the mass of the sound. The toms that ever-so-sparingly rattle like Satan’s bongos from ear to ear. The clean guitar leads that drip like an ominous trickle of blood. The vocals sound inhuman, but real–as though the demonic breath is warmly and sickly tingling at the back of the neck.
Occvlta Caerimonia Putridvm is an impressive first outing for Miasma Of Occvlt Limbs with plenty of cross-genre appeal for fans of the crushing death/doom of diSEMBOWELMENT and Spectral Voice as well as those seeking occult blackened doom a la Void Meditation Cult. And for those looking to itch their pus-filled goregrind sores, check that Gruesome Bodyparts Autopsy comp! [RYAN TYSINGER]
