Ritual Necromancy and Fossilization's New Split Bloodily Sutures Death and Doom Metal Together (Split Review)
Portland, Oregon death metal demons Ritual Necromancy have returned from a four-year gap to join forces with Brazilian death/doom metal band Fossilization for a filthy, three-track split EP. Ritual Necromancy is the more established band compared to Fossilization, as it has previously released two full-length albums since its 2008 formation. Although Fossilization isn’t creating anything new within their respective genres, they have built a solid foundation that expands their sound with a slightly more energetic approach compared to Ritual Necromancy. Together, they form the perfect marriage between slimy death/doom genres, with each band getting the chance to show off its own brand of music.
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Each of the three tracks are rather lengthy, and fans of the genre can joyously get lost in the dense, expansive nature of the compositions. Ritual Necromancy kicks things off first with the epic “Enter the Depths.” It’s a dark, doomy, and sludgy affair that creeps along nicely with several interlacing melodies and connecting rhythms that keeps the interest level high. Justin Friday’s growled vocals are as evil and nasty as can be, creating a sense of despair and anguish, while the earth-moving dissonant riffs and rolling double kick drum patterns could carve out a mountain side with its sheer massiveness. The band soaks their brooding, atmospheric composition in wonderfully murky production, while the track’s adventurous musical journey sinisterly slithers along throughout its 15-minute timeframe.
Featuring the duo of vocalist/guitarist/bassist V. (Jupiterian) and drummer P. (Jupiterian, Riffcoven), Fossilization is a newly formed band who emerged in 2020. Their previous EP, He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten, was critically acclaimed and the band now returns with two new tracks, “Exalted in the Altar of Insignificance” and “With Blood and Feathers.” The former transcends a decaying atmosphere, decorated with explosive tremolo guitar passages and cavernous vocals that gives a nod toward doom and black metal, while the latter’s seething riffs, pulverizing drum fills, and putrid vocals give off a sense of foreboding dread. While the production on both bands emphasizes their disgusting qualities, the Fossilization tracks sound a bit thicker, perhaps due to the different production teams behind each side.
This three song, 29-minute split EP is a solid one-two punch from two explosive bands who are beginning to thrive in their respective genres and its perfect combination of two dismal sounds is set to cause quite a commotion within the underground death metal scene.
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The Ritual Necromancy/Fossilization split releases today via Everlasting Spew Records.
