By: Mike Abominator
There are quite a few bands these days that have the Incantation “Onward to Golgotha” sound. There are also plenty of bands that have the Blasphemy “Fallen Angel of Doom” sound. Dare I say that both styles have become “trendy” to sound like? Well Ritual Necromancy are far from rip offs of those styles. These Portland, Oregon maniacs DO have a mixture of both actually. They have elements of both bands in their sound. And as far as bands that play this dark and crushing style of sado goat grinding black death metal, Ritual Necromancy are in the top 5. Like fellow Portland soul smashers Weregoat, these rotten rose city sickos have something special that takes them towards the top of this dismal list. This is one of the heaviest albums of the year. Extreme and ripping. The low ends will make you shit yourself. I can see the fog and errie candles lit as these fuckers desecrate the graveyard. But there are some hooks, and even harmonies and melodies (NO FUCKING WAY! THAT’S WIMP SHIT!) OK, this isn’t pop music, but there are some notes and riffs that grab you amongst the dirge and down tuned blasting madness.
“The Chasm” is a good example of the band slowing shit down and bringing the flattening riffs and drums of torture. The evil high guitar notes float above the lower devastating riffs like demons rising out of hell. On the next song “Desecrated Omniprescence” after an intro section of complete and utter blasting mania, the band slows it down again for some more amazing doom/death that lays waste to everything in a 10 mile radius, only to have a killer riff introduction that brings the grinding chaos and terror back to life. No matter the speed or tempo, this band kills in whatever arrangement it has going on. The rumbles and feedback only give the listener a fasle sense of hope that everything is OK. It is NOT OK motherfucker!Ritual Necromancy thought you were dead, now they are coming back to finish the job. This is some repugnant and brutal shit going on. It is amazing the band can be so low end heavy, yet you can hear all the notes and what is going on. Even during the fast parts. Often times, with bands that do this style, there is just a sea of reverb and it becomes a wall of noise in a bad way. That usually means that any douchebag with a guitar and a drummer that can play fast and maybe hit hard can get together and write “blasphemous and murderous war metal!”
But what sets bands like Ritual Necromancy apart from the rest is the songwriting and the riffs that stay in your head forever. Regardless, metal is supossed to be like this. At the end of the day, no matter what genre it is, it should have something to remember it by. Like Alice Cooper has said “where is the song?” There are plenty of people that can have a fasle sense of pride and courage and down tune and throw a hood on, grab a gask mask and blast and thrash away at their instruments. But what made (and makes) Incantation, Blasphemy, Beherit and Impaled Nazarene (in their prime) so killer was the SONGS. These fuckers punched us in the face and played the most over the top shit we had ever heard. Ritual Necromancy have THAT going for them in my opinion. They have the potential to branch out like that and be remembered in an era where NOTHING is original anymore. Don’t believe me? Listen to the band at their finest hour, with the mighty “Consummating Crypts of Eternity”. The way is shreds and crushes, and the hellish slow part at the end that takes you to the black abyss. AMAZING!
Yet again, I have an ALBUM OF THE YEAR cannidate. It is that time to wher assholes like myself get their cool “lists” together that drive all of you bat shit crazy. This fucker is destened to make an appearance at this point because I can’t stop listening to it. And, as with ANY metal album, THAT’S THE FUCKING POINT! This is ESSENTIAL for anyone that likes the same shit that I do. You will be blasting this monster just as I have been and will continue to.
