RITUALS OF THE DEAD HAND
With Hoof And Horn
(Dunkelheit Produktionen)
43:13min

Belgium’s RITUALS OF THE DEAD HAND, with their second full-length “With Hoof And Horn”, have continued their mid-tempo, almost sludgy form of Black Metal that evokes a little Doom into the mix. It’s always nice to hear something other than the DARKTHRONE wannabes. And this trio can do just that, create their own sound without straying too far from what makes the genre great. Opening the album is ‘Praesemino’, a brief guitar-noise intro. The cecond track ‘Sulphur’ immediately reminds me of MALIGN in its vocal delivery, though musically dwells in the area of Germany’s own AMYSTERY. It’s really a good combination when you think about it. The fluttering, buzzing guitars in ‘Inception’, and the gurgling, psychotic vocals add to the album’s energy, thankfully creating an array of diversity yet maintaining that similar atmosphere from the prior track. ‘The Defiling Days’ is a murky, foggy, stumbling mass of putridity that plods along at a snail’s pace, yet protrudes heaviness with the best of them. It’s mesmerizing in its stagnant intensity. ‘Vuurstaeck’ picks it up a notch with thundering drums and waspy guitars in a 12-minute opus that encapsulates everything the band can deliver in one amorphous package. Five tracks clocking in at around 43 minutes is RITUAL’s way of telling us to just listen to the songs, feel their energy, and welcome the pulse of each and every note and drumbeat. This isn’t an album to smash down the walls with. It’s more of a group of atmospheric songs to melt the mind. For more info, check out www.facebook.com/thenoxentity, www.facebook.com/dunkelheitprod

David Simonton

David Simonton

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