Synesthesia Ritual

The usual stuff ... well that would be the bottom line of it all. The usual rawness, the usual disregard for pleasantries and in this respect also the usual disregard for excess track lengths. Well, we have eight of those compositions and only 24 minutes to covers. Make the math on your own ... come on, you can do it. Sometimes two minutes, something above four, but never excessive and never limited to one approach. As can be fathomed from the title of the release, the music is expected to be rather rich in facets or tones, don't you think? We all would be rather disappointed would the band fall back on stylistically bland as well as predictable, somehow white noise inspired concept, right?

What would be experiencing in a rather unpredictable or uncommon way in this regard? Difficult to say, because, see previous paragraph, the band does not offer much in terms of actual content to go by. Remove from those eight tracks two dark ambient ones and that would be what we are stuck with. Abyssal Rites' music is raw and unpolished black metal. It is of the type that wakes memories in rehearsal rooms and the sort. Exactly, the stuff that is never properly balanced and put into some box; doomed to linger in one's basement for all eternity.

What should be pointed towards, though, is the melodic quality that is presented by Abyssal Rites. It has something intriguing. The instruments do not require the existence of the vocals and not vice versa. The stuff is done with a basic structure/concept, but not tiring or overtly annoying. All is rather raw and simple. Some riffs and arrangements are really nice and catchy, but are often not destined to linger. Take the opening of Expelled From The Pack for instance. A powerful unleashes it all and then ... nothing. On the other hand, the melodic interplay between guitars and drums in Given To the Altar is quite nice. A proper bass guitar would have had a positive impact, though. Something add a bit more punch to the rawness of the strings. And speaking of punch, the snares are also too way up front at times. As outlined earlier, this release drowns in rehearsal room atmosphere.

So where is this all going? Well it is not Darkthrone we have here. The bottom line is a mixture between tracks whose style is rather influenced by blasts, while other are more on the melodic as well as taken back side. Maybe some version of Mutiilation (Remains of a Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul); kicked down the stairs for some additional momentum. Manierisme could also be a reference; sound and atmosphere ... not so much in terms of dynamics. It does not hurt to throw in some old Judas Iscariot as well. Abyssal Rites's music ia raw, has a cavernous touch and a rather basic performance. Some nice and solid ideas, but you should not get overtly excited about these.

If you like occasionally melodic but generally raw black metal, then you might want to give this release a try.

Note: written on MP3s, 320 kbps, provided by the band-