Genocidal Rite

Many underground extreme metal bands today, whether they are lo-fi or hi-fi, use semi-ready formulas for music production in a home studio and tend to stick to them, repeating them for consecutive releases. Not Churchburn. The band, in contrast to that lazy tendency of most underground "producers", shows an evident constant evolution, and its peak was reached here in Genocidal Rite.

Everything here sounds so cohesive and full-bodied, with instruments and vocals very well connected and without exaggeration of volumes or gains in any of them to the point of standing out in the mastering, no, that definitely does not happen here. A perfect balance, from the fat guitar flats, the slightly distorted bass, however, present and well audible, serious and heavy drums, in addition to somewhat rough, screaming vocals, but without excesses to the point of mischaracterizing the statements. All of this forms a very heavy, dense and immersive mass of textures, a dark atmosphere that is capable of transmitting desolation and anger at the same time as the writings. A real lesson in execution and production in such a humble job.

It is worth mentioning a somewhat curious point that contributed to this result: Dave Suzuki's voice. Clearly deteriorated, probably due to advancing age, but that, in this record, it was an evil that came to a good (or worse, haha), like "the worse, the better". Since the flaws in the guttural vocal technique sounds formerly raged in Vital Remains (live) and in The Awating Coffins, already showed signs in None Shall Live... the Hymns of Misery. Here, in Genocidal Rite, they ended up giving way to agonizing screams, which fit perfectly in the vocal lines over a chaotic sound, dense and obscure, expressing a lot of pain, suffering and anger.

A homogeneous and balanced disc, leveled almost completely on top, with the exception of Sin of Angels, which is a kind of tribute to old school death metal, but sounds completely out of context to me, without aspiring to the spirit emanated by the whole disc until then. And, despite this unexpected insertion, the lyrics are enunciated in the voice of John McEntee, from Incantation, who, despite being one of their reference bands, is nothing to approach the genius expressed in Churchburn. So much so that Sin of Angels is a simple track, an escape from the “rule”, practically a false signature of Incantation, with an intrusive track on the album, without a doubt, unnecessary for the work.

Otherwise, the title track starts slow and slurred, with its immediate and sleazy vocals, which continue to crawl in this cold sonic mud, and that gradually emerge an angry tension as the track progresses to more accelerated rhythms, with a dramatic break for a lancinating Dave Suzuki's solo. Great track. Swallowed by Dust, announced by an isolated dissonant and rough, almost uncomfortable riff, soon cut by "ugly" riffs and very unusual drum rhythms, accompanied by ardent vocals until reaching the incredible solo, once again full of feeling, the most at the top of the song, with a catchy neoclassical melody worthy of Vital Remains, punctuated with beautiful vibratos reminiscent of Yngwie Malmsteen in his Alcatrazz days, and with the last phrases surgically folded a few tones higher, closing the passage with a golden key. However, the surprising song continues with a second part distinct from the first, which may cause some strangeness to the listener.

At the same time as tracks that mix cadences and slightly accelerated rhythms, Scarred is relentless and rich in variations, its marching introduction announces rhythmic progressions from a speed that flirts with old school death metal, going through cadences and bass drum sessions typical of Churchburn. Until the first half, the song is finished by another guitar arrangement that takes the listener back to Vital Remains, until another dramatic pause, for the entry of an acoustic guitar also covered by a guitar with ambient noise, until giving way to the more intense exciting solo from Dave. Here, he unloads all his anguish and lamentation that no more words should be able to express, to end the song with the last verse with his desperate vocals, as if begging for mercy, or to end all this suffering and pain.

Amid this filthy, harsh chaos, we have an incredibly surprising and moving contrast. The instrumental Unmendable Absence, one of the main points of the album, cools the mood in an innovative way, being a simple harmonic layer, accompanied by a noise guitar in the background, and beautiful arrangements of acoustic guitar and BANJO, which, although it is an absurdly acute (read “happy”) instrument, it is composed here in a sad and melancholic way, as the title suggests. It is worth highlighting this track as special, as it is clearly a tribute to Dave Suzuki's late father, with all that feeling of mourning, which is real, and not a mere thematic whim chosen by the standard doom metal formula. Really captivating.

Despite the small slip at the end of the album (which helps to soften it), 96% is fair for the overall brilliance of the album, both for the tracks sung by Dave Suzuki, as well as the ambient tracks or whatever you want to call it, in addition to the competence of a band mingled between interwoven between the precisely funereal drum patterns of Ray McCaffrey, and the swampy mass of guitar and bass delivered by Timmy St. Amour and Derek Muniz, respectively. A true masterpiece of 2021, both of doom metal and extreme metal in general, from one of the main underground metal bands in the world today.