RIGOR SARDONICOUS – Praeparet Bellum
January 21, 2023, a year ago
(Memento Mori)
No idea how this US death/doom band is on album seven and they've managed to totally stay off my radar, but here we are, this duo and drum machine coming along to totally wipe that stupid smile off my stupid face, opener “Caelum Ardere Vidistis” immediately making me stand up and take notice, the demo-quality sounds both abrasive and appealing, the drum machine working in a clattering and clanging way, the feeling that this is going to be one long album setting in pretty quick here.
And it's long, it's long as hell, it's miserable, it's absolutely one plodding tempo and mood, it's extremely impressive in its single-mindedness and devotion to utter misery, but it's a very, very tough slog. Like, what mood is appropriate for putting this one? Being cold and miserable and dying, I suppose, and when that time comes, sure, plug this one on. Until then, much respect but I just can't see myself having the courage to revisit this, and I say that as someone with a lifetime of extreme metal experience.
But, in the upside-down world of extremity, this is all good news: much respect to these weirdos, as the endless endtyme sludge march of “Unholy Sonnet 10” just hammers, hammers, hammers, off into the endless night, misery, doom, despair, death.
