It’s not very cold right now. Actually, this week, in my hometown, we’re pushing the upper 80s and a huge wave of unclean air. Thank fuck all the corporations told us the environment is doing OK! I even miss massive, frigid winters where we were guaranteed a handful of crippling snow storms that would relegate us to our homes for days and that would look like a majestic wintry landscape.
It’s been about as long as those types of winters happened as we’ve heard from Imperial Crystalline Entombment, who have remained silent for nearly two full decades. The planet has gotten noticeably warmer (again, lack of actual winter for years), but taking on this band’s electrifying new record “Ancient Glacial Resurgence,” their first since 2004’s landmark “Apocalyptic End in White,” is like facing a destructive blizzard head on. The band—vocalist IceSickKill, guitarist/backing vocalist Bleak, bassist Blisserred, drummer Mammoth—runs frigidly roughshod over 10 tracks and 44 minutes of power in a way few bands not named Immortal have captured, celebrating the most unforgiving season we have. This is exciting and coursing, music that’s both icy and scalding in a way that makes total sense once you hear it.
“Into a Frigid Bleak Infinity” tears open with the melodies whipping with power, driving into blinding winds as the shrieks peel at prone flesh. Chaos rains down as the guitars swell, a huge burst blows you backward, and the final blows leave bloody marks. “Eternal Subzero Torment” blasts as the riffs race, and blackness pours out of cosmic wounds as screams smash with urgency. The guitars rip through and manage to add some heat to the glacial freeze, thrashing and dashing before ending in fury. “Cataclysmic Glaciation” is crunching and calculated, ramping up as it goes, eventually rampaging and splattering with power. “The end is near!” IceSickKill wails as guitars jolt and wrench, and clobbering blasts stretch your muscles cruelly. “Of Blizzards and Banshees” rams open, tearing down ramparts, the melodies rippling through the sky. The howls crush as the guitars char, savagery spewing from every opening, a devastating and mystical storm breaking spines in two. “Ravaskeith’s Crystalline Return” bring embroiling guitars, menacing storms, and generous amounts of power. The riffs cut down the middle as the drums come alive and plaster, shrieks storm and pay off the fury, and all elements pile on dangerously, racing to a finish that dissolves in static.
“Petrified Cadaverous Wastelands” starts like a dream, immersing your brain in wonders as the bodily damage is being done. Moody weirdness spirals as a punishing force emerges and stains psyches, IceSickKill urging, “Accept our offerings we have brought you,” as the twisted forces eat away at minds. “Savage Blizzard Stabbings” is a strange journey at first, the dream state giving off an unsettling aura. Cold and forceful, the riffs bring a stinging backlash, the guitars carving through ice and overwhelming as it pounds away. It’s like being in the midst of a blast furnace, a psyche wash making things disorienting, your breath present in front of you as your extremities tingle from the punishment. “Opening the Imperial Gates” is warped, and you’re greeting by devastating shrieks and confounding guitars, smoke mixing with the freezing winds. “Open the arctic gates!” IceSickKill demands as the playing thrashes away, sweeping into madness as the track spins into the ground. “Ancient Lords of White Death” explodes with stabbing guitars and dramatic swipes, grisly violence destroying mentally and physically. Classic black metal riffs arrive and freeze your beating heart, the howls coat with darkness, and the guitars zap, leaving the room spinning. Closer “Born to Freeze” begins ominously before the howls arrive and darken the sun, the chaos welling and bringing vile elements. It feels like you’re being gutted as the playing adds pressure, and then things seem to end as the power fades. It’s a trick as seconds later, everything restarts, howls scrape, and a glorious burst buries you under the ice.
It’s been a long time since Imperial Crystalline Entombment have haunted our world, and despite our globe experiencing higher temperature than normal, this band finds a way to deliver painful ice burns. These 10 tracks are maniacal and filled with a warped energy that feels like the band letting loose and making up for lost time by contorting our brains and bodies. This is a record and band that show no mercy, and once you’re in their clutches, your cries for mercy will go unheeded as you’re taken apart and submerged in ice piece by piece.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/ImperialCrystallineEntombment/
To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://debemurmorti.aisamerch.com/
Or here (Europe): https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/12-eshop
For more on the label, go here: https://www.debemur-morti.com/en/
Meat Mead Metal 