As much tumult and frustration as there is in the world, and there’s plenty of it, the worst way out of it would be to give up and let the powers that be have their control. We live at the boot of capitalism, which has a ripple effect over matters such as societal struggle, environmental issues, and equality, and fighting back is the only true option.
Finnish death metal power Unearthly Rites have plenty of anger and vitriol spread over their mangling debut record “Ecdysis,” but the goal behind it all is to make it possible for a brighter future that rises above all of the chaos. The band—vocalist Sisli Piisilä, guitarists Simo Perkiömäki and Santtu Markko, bassist Jennika Vikman, drummer Tapio Lepistö—themselves have taken up for environmental activism and have lashed back against mining and drilling actions that maim the earth and fresh water sources. That’s packed into these thunderous nine tracks that revel in filth and fight back against a power structure that only seems to care about how much money it can make.
“Hellscape” is an instrumental opener with noises sizzling, synth folding, and feedback bubbling, blowing into “Deep Drilling Earth’s Crust” that mauls with guitars digging into skulls. Growls rip as the playing adds pressure, Piisilä howling, “Heavy metals and radiation leach, polluting the water and soil, nature is destroyed.” The brutality continues from there, smoke filling the air, thrashy bends shaking stomach contents, rushing away with power. “The Master’s Tools” sits under doomy skies, growls mashing as filthy chaos rushes to the surface. Growls shred throats, drubbing as the guitars add heat, blazing heavily as ashes collect. The title track unloads with bludgeoning violence, growls slashing as blood is shed generously. The pace feels sooty and clogging, the trudging blistering flesh, warm guitars flowing like a sludgy river over your prone body. “Capitalocenic Nightmare” pounds away, growls retching as the punishment is amplified, the bass quivering through the earth. “We will burn down this system and plant new seeds to where there was concrete,” Piisilä wails, echoes sharpening as animalistic terror digs into the veins of the earth.
“New Venus” brings torching guitars and vocals that go for a choke hold, the playing speeding up suddenly and dangerously. “Oceans evaporate to steam, clouds of sulfuric acid drift where there was sky,” Piisilä cries, the fear of atmospheric destruction weighing heavily, the combustion from all forces coming together to devastate, ripping apart and bursting with flames. “Fuck Ecofascism” trudges, growls scathing, the guitars lathering and building up an ocean of blood. “To claim the humanity is to blame for our sins is a colonialist, western & racist understanding of the world,” Piisilä stabs bluntly, the clubbing tempo leaving bruising, dragging chaos through the mud and into a buzzing finish. “Sacrifice Zones” is slow driving and weighs down on your chest, growls and shrieks scarring, battering everything in its wake. Guitars scar as the low end rumbles, igniting and burning the hair off your flesh. Closer “Doomed” is the longest track, running 7:13, and it’s aptly titled, the bass clobbering, the playing squeezing like a vice, the guitars burning and then taking off. The bulk of this is gutting, Piisilä howling, “Time to lose false hope and fight for what is left, what could still be saved,” the pummeling and scorching teaming, everything dissolving into an ocean of noise as a glimmer of light beams.
Unearthly Rites savagely sound the alarm against the scourge of capitalism and the way it eroded our world as well as environmental concerns as we are on the brink of destruction, but they do so in a way that signals we still could find hope. “Ecdysis” is a mauling, devastating record that combines old school death metal and modern scuzz, and its messages are sobering and at times infuriated. Yet the fight continues, and there remain ways to save the future, but it’ll take anger and a drag-down fight to prevent the ruling class from turning what we have left into hollow profit.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/unearthlyrites666
To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://shop.prostheticrecords.com/
Or here (Europe): https://prostheticrecords.8merch.com/
For more on the label, go here: https://prostheticrecords.com/
Meat Mead Metal 