Review Summary: The Portal is Open
Conjuring the soundscapes of Hell has been a long-held goal among metal bands, but few manage their invocations with as much menace and skill as Ceremonial Bloodbath. Formed in the same stomping grounds that gave birth to war metal, the Vancouver, B.C. quartet penned an admirable soundtrack to a post-nuclear wasteland with their 2023 release, Genesis of Malignant Entropy.
What immediately stands out about this album is the production. The instrumentals are nearly lost within themselves, creating waves of heaving chainsaw dissonance that are nearly incomprehensible until they resolve into pummeling death metal grooves. But it’s the layered vocals that really bring everything home. The grating shrieks, growling gutturals and rasping mid ranges are almost constantly stacked upon each other in a muddied, forceful ensemble. The effect is crushing.
A perfect example of Ceremonial Bloodbath’s expertise is found in the excellent track The Boneless One. Early hints of melody and groove start and stutter before churning beneath buzzing riffs and a nearly impenetrable wall of black/death noise. Blast beats are interspersed with war metal’s signature beat down drum patterns before maniacal guitar solos crawl over the top.
Ceremonial Bloodbath isn’t alone in navigating the cacophonous extremes of metal. Fellow travelers like Spain’s outstanding Teitanblood or Portland’s Diabolic Oath and Disimperium tread similar plains.
One of the risks that bands playing this style run is delving into repetition, especially with such an emphasis on creating a wall of sound. Thankfully, Genesis of Malignant Entropy strikes a reasonable balance between allowing the listener to sink into its atmosphere while providing enough interesting licks and riffs to hold their attention. A prime example of this is provided by way of the track Caustic Invocation which seasons its aural assault with minor scale walkdowns and neck-breaking groove shifts.
Much like its cover, the album’s music paints a vivid picture in the listener’s imagination of irradiated demons, unleashed by nuclear armageddon, roaming the charred remains of paradise, pulling the whole record together quite nicely.
If any of this sounds intriguing, I’d recommend you check this album out.
