BEAST OF REVELATION – The Ancient Ritual Of Death
April 7, 2020, 4 years ago
(Iron Bonehead)
Very interesting proposition here, Incantation’s John McEntee behind the mic and Bob Bagchus (ex-Asphyx, Grand Supreme Blood Court) on drums joining forces with A.J. van Drenth on guitar to lay down their debut album, on the ultra-underground Iron Bonehead.
And, man, things start out promising enough with “Legions”, a massive 6:38 sludge/death opener that is grimy, huge, all-enveloping, one hell of a way to start the war, all subtlety thrown out the window. But here’s the rub: when second cut “The Great Tribulation” starts you just expect it to be raging death but it’s not, the band keeping the tempo at an extremely slow doom/sludge speed. It’s a monolith, these songs just unbearably heavy; the band “pick up the pace” a bit as this song nears the two-minute mark, but it’s still first-album-Cathedral bpms, and, man, Beast Of Revelation have this mastered. On and on it goes, this album just lumbering forth, slight bits of hopeful melody showing up in “The Fallen Ones” but for the most part it’s just a steamroller of despair, every song like the last, every song awesome. Highly recommended for fans of the doomier and sludgier side of death; hopefully this one gets the attention it deserves, as it’s a powerful and moving take on the sound.
