The UK band Vaticinal Rites made an extremely impressive debut with their self-titled EP in 2021, a definite silver lining to the black cloud of our pandemic existence, which was itself the awful spawning ground for the band.
As they explained then, they played “a visceral form of death metal inspired by the classic Floridian bands of the early – mid ’90s, with a special homage also paid to the European underground sound” and with lyrical and visual themes that “explore spirituality, loss, the occult and escapism”.
Those four songs (as we wrote at the time) were technically impressive and often lightning-fast, but also ferocious, heavy-grooved, and capable of generating supernatural auras.
It is thus very good news indeed that these London-based extremists are now returning with a debut album, Cascading Memories Of Immortality, which will be released on May 10th by Everlasting Spew Records — and very good news for us when we got the chance to premiere a song from the new album today. Its name is “Corporeal Affliction“.
Consistent with its name, “Corporeal Affliction” does feel afflicted, right down through the blood and into the bone, but it sounds emotionally afflicted too. The writhing and quivering riffage manifests like an insidious disease, segmented by the pounding of a hammering heart, and the shrill guitar leads seem to wail in agony.
Dynamic in its tempos and technically impressive, the music brutally lurches and stomps, cold and punishing, but also convulses in paroxysms of screaming and sizzling fretwork, obliterating percussion, and ravenous roars, like a mind driven to extremes of turmoil and pain. The drums chop like an axe; the notes dart and contort; dementia seems ascendant; but no bones will be left unbroken.
Vaticinal Rites is:
Max Southall – Drums
Chris Cleovoulou – Rhythm Guitar
Marcus Broome – Vocals
Andreas Yiasoumi – Lead Guitar
The new album was mixed and mastered by Adam Rogers, and features chilling cover art painted by Pedro Moriendee.
Everlasting Spew will be releasing it on CD, cassette tape, and digital formats on May 10th, with a vinyl edition planned for release this coming summer. They recommend it for fans of Morbid Angel, Vital Remains, early Sinister, and Monstrosity.
For more info, check the links below, and also check out the stream we’ve included for the previously released album track “Plead For Termination“. It reinforces the idea that Vaticinal Rites have prepared a superior follow-up to their impressive first EP — the exhilarating soloing that opens the song is worth the price of admission all by itself, and what follows proves to be equally exuberant and electrifying (but it’s also unsettling, and of course it will also beat you senseless).
PRE-ORDER:
[BUY PHYSICAL] https://bit.ly/48INcV1
[BUY DIGITAL] https://bit.ly/49Sl4zZ
VATICINAL RITES:
https://www.facebook.com/vaticinalrites
https://vaticinalrites.bandcamp.com/album/vaticinal-rites