RITUAL NECROMANCY - Oath of the Abyss CD review

RITUAL NECROMANCY - Oath of the Abyss CD
Dark Descent Records
Genre: Death Metal
Rating: 3/5

Somewhere outside a Portland, Oregon in the woods there lies a deep cave and from it's subterranean depths lives four twisted individuals who combined to create this beast known to us city dwellers as RITUAL NECROMANCY. Okay that's the cool storyline that most people know is bullshit. The fact of the matter is since 2009 we've seen a Death Metal revival of new bands all claiming allegiance to the old school sound. The new European ones obviously are shooting for the old Swedish sound. Here in the states bands have shot for the original sounds of AUTOPSY or INCANTAION. These Oregonians chose the latter in it's most raw and diabolical sense. Actually I could even go as far as say it's punishing and play this continually to a PORTAL fanatic as a form of torture. But Oath of the Abyss is far more than a revisit to DM's more medieval times. In fact I found myself falling into a trance like state sort of like passing out from over induced pain. Some people will just accuse me of sugar coating the obvious and say I took a nap. Well dammit music like this is taxing on the body plus birthdays are not for subtraction.

Something truly evident as well and unfortunately about RITUAL NECROMANCY is that this debut of theirs sounds exactly like a shitload of other newer releases. I know because I've reviewed plenty of them, the past two year end favorite's lists are full of em. I don't need to name drop because if you're into quality death metal than you already know. Now RITUAL NECROMANCY are not without their high marks of interest on here. Most of their songs are down right destructive. They add some crawling doom, a staple with this type of stuff, but tend to lean more towards blasting their rhythms. The vocals are typical beastly variety, drum work is more like the rumblings and crashes heard from a commercial kitchen staffed by drunks. The guitar and bass do create an oppressive atmosphere in which to frighten any unsuspecting bystander into thinking the bowels of Hell have opened and the beasts have emerged to wreak havoc upon the world. Yeah they get that part right. I believe if you just need one more release in your collection to piss off your neighbors on a Sunday morning that's worse than running a leaf blower then here you go.


Label: http://www.darkdescentrecords.com/

Official: http://ritualnecromancy.blogspot.com/