Progressive death metal dreamers Vile Rites named their first full-length “Senescence,” the process of physical deterioration that occurs as a person ages. Sure, you can exercise or do other activities to help slow that decline, but it’s gong to catch up with you some day. It’s an odd title for a record that’s so full of exciting new ideas, spacey expansion, and pushing death metal even further into jarring waters that wash over you with chilling fury, the furthest thing from losing power and stopping growth. This is a record that has captured my mind in a way I didn’t expect. Even after absorbing it once I knew I had to go back and bathe in these sci-fi chemicals rising to the surface.
“Only Silence Follows” opens amid cold notes, hypnosis setting in, which is a hint of what’s ahead. The bass bends as the hammering picks up, the soloing erupting as the growls dig into flesh. Cosmic synth wraps you in a coat of stars as speed becomes a greater factor, ripping out into the stars. “Senescent” is tricky and crunchy when it starts, heavy blows landing with force, drubbing and causing dizzying feelings. The playing pulls back and adds a chill to the air, fluid leads take off and create a laser effect, techy melodies flex muscles. “Transcendent Putrefaction” has the bass chewing into muscle, keys wooshing, and heavy body blows aiming to take you down. Growls engorge as the temperatures shift to a deep freeze, the guitars erupting and letting carnage reign, beastly howls and gutting death smearing psychosis. Closer “Banished to Solitude (Adrift on the Infinite Waves)” is the longest track, running 11:11, and the track blasts and contorts, sudden brutality slashing as progressive fires are fed gallons of fuel.
Vile Rites’ progressively minded death metal is a refreshing gust of energy, and while “Senescence” may be named after a process of physical deterioration, it feels like the band is just beginning a life cycle that could begin to rewrite this style’s DNA. Incredible record I cannot possibly recommend enough. (Aug. 16)
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/VileRites
Or here (Europe): https://carbonizedrecordseu.com/
To buy the album (U.S.), go here: https://carbonizedrecords.com/search?q=vile+rites&options%5Bprefix%5D=last
For more on the label, go here: https://carbonizedrecords.com/
Meat Mead Metal 