Impetuous Ritual - Relentless Execution of Ceremonial Excrescence

Review by Adrian Tan.


For the uninitiated, Impetuous Ritual’s brand of metal is difficult to digest to say the least - no less of course due the obvious Portal influences where two members are common denominators across both bands.

The music here is driven relentlessly by swirling guitar riffs that threaten to suffocate the listener right from the get go. Things are not all one dimensional though. Once accustomed to the chaotic and buffeting guitar riffs, one would notice the curiously juxtaposing rhythm section. Tempo changes here keep pace to anchor the frantic chaos most of the time but there are moments where it grinds to a crawl (such as that on the aptly named album closer “Dirge”). This subtle mix of dynamics works well to create an overall atmosphere that is dreadful, and at the same time, intriguing. Taken as a whole, this concoction works surprisingly well to absorb the listener. As if emanating from a long abandoned, ichor stained, unholy temple of some vile deity (undoubtedly Lovecraftian!), one is slowly but inexplicably dragged into it’s depths of insanity.

It is difficult to draw a genre boundary for Impetuous Ritual (and Portal too for that matter). While the technical execution is undoubtedly a mash of Death and Doom metal, the emotional content here is anything but. And this for me, is the exact reason why there is so much to love about metal in the first place.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Graf Orlock - Los Angeles

By Natalie Zina Walschots. Graf Orlock (named after the character in early cinema masterpiece Nosferatu) are a grindcore band from Los Angeles, CA. They have been labelled cinema-grind for their use of film dialogue as lyrics, especially from action

By Natalie Zina Walschots. Originally published by Exclaim.


Graf Orlock (named after the character in early cinema masterpiece Nosferatu) are a grindcore band from Los Angeles, CA. They have been labelled cinema-grind for their use of film dialogue as lyrics, especially from action and science fiction titles, and their extensive sampling of dialogue, especially as song intros. Guitarist/vocalist Jason Schmidt also runs Vitriol Records, and releases all Graf Orlock's material, as well as others like Ghostlimb and Dangers.

The band favour the EP format; most of their releases have been short, tight compositions, and Los Angeles follows 2011's well-received Doombox EP. This particular release veers away from the speculative fiction they often favour and instead samples Michael Mann's Heat. Graf Orlock match the irresistible structure of tension and cathartic violence of action films with ten minutes of tight, explosive music designed to titillate and entertain. The lo-fi quality of their sound takes on the cast of grindhouse sleaze, the crackle of feedback evoking the imperfection of celluloid.

There's intimacy to Los Angeles as well, a type of enforced closeness that you often see crop up between characters in violent films who have been through too much not to form a relationship with each other. Love inspired by trauma and explosions is the perfect metaphor for Graf Orlock, and in particular Los Angeles, all distilled immediacy and adrenaline, with the tang of gunpowder.

Dephosphorus - Night Sky Transform

Written by Atanamar Sunyata.

Artwork by Viral Graphics

Dephosphorus’ debut album, Axiom, was a game changer. That transdimensional contraption is driven by ominous divinations, deranged sprints, and grinding grooves, its gears lubricated with a spectral sheen of black metal might. Axiom is, to put it lightly, sublime.

Night Sky Transform, released in August, reveals a band in rapid mutation. The grooves swing a bit wider, and the break-neck grind-vibe is often subsumed by sludgier sentiments. The bursts of wanton speed persist, but their movements are more controlled. Axiom’s sinister black aura is boiled down and poured over the proceedings in the form of mucilaginous arpeggiation. The cadence here is more varied, with wicked riffs rolling and rocking at various neck-wrecking velocities.

The album’s most striking moments manifest in the form of anomalous dirges. Several tracks feature clean vocals, chanted or semi-sung, drawing a sharp contrast to the throat-ripping diatribes Dephosphorus have thus far conveyed. “The Fermi Paradox” trudges in a hypnotic orbit while “Unconscious Excursion” emotes the livid mania of a Cobalt creation (with help from Ryan Lipynsky). The album’s lyrics detail apocalyptic astral conjurations, cosmos conquering crusades and visions of extraterrestrial bloodshed. These tales are all thankfully included in the bandcamp download; they’re an essential part of the listening experience.

While I might prefer Axiom’s precipitous sonic vision, Night Sky Transform is no less revelatory. Dephosphorus have built another bona fide beaut, shaping space and time into unfathomable and irresistible forms. Night Sky Transform is a harbinger. All Hail Aurora.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]