Whenever I get fed up of the brooding chaos in my daily life, I always try to find something splendorous and compelling. An entity which would simply give a straight thud onto my face with a full frontal blow and breaks my cranial chords. Yeah, sounds like a whacky idea but being an extreme metal fanatic, I can’t expect something whiny and chirpy to enrapture my wicked senses. I was hunting greedily for a similar object a few months back when I chanced to obtain this CD called as ”Ritual Executions” by ”The Dead”. I didn’t exactly know as to what I should expect from that disc and I simply popped it in my player with a child like curiosity, as always. After a few seconds, I observed a very despicable swarming sound which was ejaculated by my computer speakers. That ”sound” soon grew into an intensely gratifying plod of ominous and eerie wall of droning sonic incantations. It began in a very loathsome ritualistic demeanor and I started getting waves of impious contempt as soon as the vocals descended upon my ears. The unholy persecutor of those deranged prophecies announced that ”Never bury your dead” because ”way down deep, the dead never sleep. Cold graves are restless, so BURN YOUR DEAD!” Getting hugely impressed by these words of wisdom, I grew totally attentive of the rest of the rituals to follow. The proceedings grew a lot more profound as the first ritual was ceasing towards a very enchanting end.
Totally awe-struck after the first ritual assault, I turned on to the second one which started in a trance inducing groove which led to a path of infernal damnation. Heavily sonorous drums and the abyssic grunts of the deranged ritual commander rocked my senses and left no room for reprieve. This particular ritual spoke of a ”Cannibal Abattoir” where scenes of butchering the mortals and hanging their skins to the hooks were emphasized. It weaved a catastrophic scenario of mortal ruination and left behind gory scenes in my mind. Then I got hooked to the third ritual which emanated abruptly in a very bleak and chaotic manner. I had already envisioned spirits crawling across my room which weaved a labyrinth of dismay. But I just couldn’t give up and threw myself into the maze of horrendous symphonies.
This ritual called as ”Centurian” spoke about an evil pandemonium where a progeny of hell was supposed to crush the enemies with brute force. After descending into a hideous thump, I was immediately taken aback by the 4th ritual which started in a flurry of apocalyptic cacophonies. Diabolical summoning of rage continued to pummel my brain until the chaos ceased into a convulsive hymn of languish. The persecutor gave a loud groan of his conjuration and howled nefariously. As usual, the ceremonial hymn ceased into tranquility but it rose again as a crescendo when the fifth ritual began. My auditory senses simply trodded with the sinister passage which was created by this abomination. It told me to rise up for a war, where I must wash away the filth of humanity as the lord of hell would arrive and devour it all. A stream of tumultuous ardor ran through my veins as I was repeatedly crushed by the groovy dissonance of ”Ritual Executions”. Now, I felt a victorious gleam in my eyes and my head started moving to and fro with the morose crepitation.
The 6th ritual ”Blood Angel” came, saw and conquered with its delightful yet vile raucity. It picturized an undead queen of vampyric descent, who carried an eternal lust for blood. Ravishing hymns of her praise were repeatedly sang and carried ahead with a bedlam of atonal rhythms. Coming towards the final ritual, my brain was in an evil trance and I could see sweat flowing down my body. I immediately gulped down a few shots of water and went to hear what the decisive evocation had to offer. ”Death Metal Suicide” was what it was called and it brought me out of the state of bludgeoning trance which had captivated me for more than 40 minutes. It was a soothing balm which was characterized by a subtle tonality and gloomy harmonies. But I was still dumb struck even after the ritual compilation got over because it left such a lasting impact on my brain, which was very tough to get over with.
After I gained my senses back, I tried to sum up the overall attributes of this bestial sanctification. I arrived at the point that The Dead had given birth to rituals so bizarre and foul, that it would be harder for anyone to stay away from its demented quality. It was a death metal ceremony to my ears and mind, which combined the nauseous qualities of doom and the trance inducing fervor of stoner/sludge which had weaved ghastly components of calamitous disdain. Diabolical Conquest Records have really discovered a bestial horde which can only promise to march ahead in its colossal style and mow down the abysmal preachers of divinity forever!
Review by : Ankit Sinha (Cross posted here)