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Dexterity in iteration.
Hailing from Canada (where else?) this is Fathomless Ritual debut album with 8 tracks of technical death metal clocking in at 38 long minutes.
An one-man band, B. Dean controls everything, even the drum programming which surprisingly has a good sound.
Well, Hecatomb for an Unending Madness has well produced sound showing the dexterity of B. Dean in managing confusing time signatures in bass and guitar and Exiled to the Lower Catacombs is no different although the songs are always at the same tempo.
By the third song, Gorge of the Nameless, the music starts to sound repetitive and the same happens with the fourth track Grafted to the Chambers of Mirth. Look, this is not the case of an album that shows knack for the sake of knack. B. Dean is really good and the soloing on the former is deliciously made, and only the oldsters will love it because it is real death metal.
Now the not-so-good surprise: all the songs sound the same by the middle to final of the disc: everything is fine until it is not. The intricacies find barren ground when confronted with the same tempo of the entire album, an inexcusable mistake because the listener starts to lose heart in which passing song , and they are not bad if listened separately.
Take the case Wielding the Bone Wand, that would have a brilliant future had it not been for aforementioned cause: iteration not in composition but in TEMPO.
A piece of advice to the listener: savor the tracks one at a different time. A piece of advice to B. Dean: start to play with other guys. Maybe the band gain momentum by some new and refreshed ideas.
Hymns For The Lesser Gods is out now on Transcending Obscurity Records.
Rating: 5/10
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Roderick Blutrache
Dark Souls United 