9 tracks – Duration: 43 min.
The death bell tolls. Thick thumping strings of doom keep reverbing. The seven-headed beast of revelation -as depicted on the logo by Italian artist Roberto Toderico and the dark cover art by Manuel Tinnemans (Comaworx)- took possession over INCANTATION’s frontman John McEntee. Like a demonic oracle, he utters the deepest bestial growls you could ever imagine. BEAST OF REVELATION instantly demarcates the terrain with their trademark of sinister and intense Doom Death Metal during the opening track called ‘Legions’. If you were looking for blast beats, tough luck: you can count the beats per minute on the fingers of one hand. The band of former ASPHYX and BEYOND BELIEF members A.J. van Drenth (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Bob Bagchus (drums) slowly but surely drag you further into the abyss with ‘The Great Tribulation’. Next up is ‘The Cryptic Void’, which would suit well on an INCANTATION album. ‘The Fallen Ones’ is a monster on which John demonstrates some of the deepest gutturals in the history of Death Metal. ‘Beast VI’ is a short instrumental intermezzo. The filthy ‘The Days of Vengeance’ sickens you with its heavy riffs and rabid snarls. The title track ‘The Ancient Ritual of Death’ keeps it simple, but there is a doomy guitar solo that makes this one interesting enough. The lead guitars on ‘The Unholy Roman Empire’ reminisce of the old PARADISE LOST, as if Gregor Mackintosh himself was taking care. The instrumental outro ‘We, the Lord of Chaos’ concludes the descent into the depth with a pinch of melody and melancholy. Stay away from this if you want your metal fast since this is total old-school Doom Death Metal worship. Don’t hesitate to buy this rotting piece of ultra-heaviness, however, if the latter is your cup of tea. I am digging this for sure.
8.5 out of 10 skulls
THRONE OF ABSENCE 