Manipura Imperial Deathevokovil: Scriptures of Reversed Puraana Dharmurder

When your band has a name like Genocide Shrines, listeners are entitled to expect full blown blackest-of-black and most-deathly-of-death blackened death metal apocalyptic torture imaginable. These guys from Colombo, Sri Lanka, do not disappoint with their debut album "Manipura Imperial Deathevokovil: Scriptures of Reversed Puraana Dharmurder" - should that not have been "... Deathevoke-evil ..."? ... oh fuck it doesn't matter as long as the music is the real deal! - which features the most punishing manic blast-beat percussion, the most grinding subterranean bass lines and above all the most fearsomely Satanic vocals on the wrong side of Hell (that is, its interiors). If the music isn't the most horrific experience alive, the deep black atmosphere surrounding it and floating through your head like an ectoplasmic demon cloud entity should fill you with terror. From start to finish, this powerful and dense dark work pummels you relentlessly, no matter how fast or how slow it goes, how loud or soft it is, or how hard those slabs of guitar riff noise and crazed drumbeats slam into you.

There isn't much to distinguish one song from the next apart from very brief pauses between tracks and the whole album actually works better being heard as one long onslaught of crushing music. The album's sound is very clean and all instruments can be heard clearly, revealing an astonishing array of rhythms, some of them quite distinctive (as on "Aerialdishamanic Bonethrone Omega: Aryaputhra Ascension"), riffs and melodies that channel the band's raw power and fury at insane speeds. The music flows very well, in a surprisingly ordered way considering how fast and manic it all is, and well-placed field recordings of ritual drumming, the cries and moans of sacrificial victims, and radio or film announcements drive home a message of how oppressed and continuously screwed the poor and the most vulnerable are in a police state where brutality, torture and death are the policy of the day.

As the album progresses, it starts to settle down a little (or maybe I'm getting more used to having my head banged!), becoming more death metal in its steady-state motorcycle rhythms and relaxed singing - meaning that when the musicians go all-out bat-shit crazy on the blastbeats, they sound even more deranged than they did when the music was continuously fast. Alas the songs get shorter as well but by this point listeners probably aren't able to take very much more punishment.

Listeners will come away with an impression of sheer blackened death metal savagery leavened slightly by found sound recordings of chanting, folk drumming and lives lived in poverty, enslavement and exploitation. You may well appreciate that for all the torture and BM / DM brutality you had to suffer in 40 minutes, what Genocide Shrines delivers pales next to the reality of life in poor countries in thrall to brutal dictatorships cynically aided and abetted by rich Western political and banking elites for their own selfish benefit.

Ears very used to European and North American death and black metal will sometimes suffer a form of aural lethargy, leading them to seek more inventive (or at least unprocessed) cacophony. Asian and South American bands have continuously exhibited a seemingly inherent talent for recapturing the primal essence of the most extreme of metal genres while demonstrating an awareness of contemporary trends that they often warp and re-purpose with fantastically devastating results.

Sri Lanka's Genocide Shrines left heads spinning with their 2012 EP, 'Devanation Monumentemples', which broadcast the band as serious contenders within the international black/death metal confederacy. Its blend of heads-down, no frills black/death akin to Proclamation and Witchrist garnered generally positive reviews from worthwhile sources and crafted the template for what fans hoped would eventually appear.

Ritualistic intonations open their latest expiation, 'Manipura Imperial Deathevokovil: Scriptures of Reversed Puraana Dharmurder', released via Canada's supporters of total death, Vault of Dried Bones. Layered with an undeniably Asian texture, which is both fresh and forthright in setting the tone of this excellent record, its presentation is immediate and unbridled. In an arena calloused to seemingly endless levels of down-tuning and distortion, Genocide Shrines' tone manages to surprise, being concurrently superbly sludgy yet crisp, and confoundedly heavy in the truest sense.

Incessant waves of crashing, precision percussion complement audible, layered riffing that manages to remain thoroughly aggressive throughout the release's duration. Though there is some blending in the tracks, variations in pacing supply a vigour that may astonish some within the context of such an album. Well-situated discordance, nestled among the record's slower sections, nods toward the musicianship behind what is otherwise all out blitzkrieg.

Before, between and after tracks, eastern monk type chanting, panpipes, echoing sounding bowls, hypnotic ceremonial drumming and adult film moaning encourages the band's anti-Dharmic suggestion; the usual simplicity and harmlessness of wind chimes suddenly becomes wholly ominous. Seen throughout the release's accompanying artwork, the band - bar their group photo - have eschewed the commonplace gas masks and bullet belts of their genre for more apt and aesthetically sound iconography, which adds both a maturity and thoughtfulness to affairs by lending cultural weight and consummate eeriness.

'Manipura Imperial...' is a rich presentation of militant, oppressive, sanguine, bristling black/death metal with a disposition all its own. While Genocide Shrines share the impetus and sonic realms of bands such as Wrathprayer and Daamar, comparisons to Spanish powerhouse duo Teitanblood are the most fitting (and complementary), yet the Sri Lankans are no mere copycats. This record is one of the best of 2015.

Originally posted to http://polymerpulpit.blogspot.ie/