2014 is an important year for the New Zealand metal scene, especially since seeing the release of the first full-length from the country's premier Blackened Thrash band, EXORDIUM MORS; musically drawing from artists such as BEHEMOTH, VADER and BATHORY, there is something contained within “The Apotheosis of Death” for every extreme metal fan. This band is a testament as to why the NZ metal scene should not be underestimated.
Building on the primordial force from hell that was their previous EP, the full-length is brandishing a fresh kind of grandioseness that I did not expect layered above the brutality; “Axiom” projects this right from the start. Reminding me a little of IMMORTAL, the riffs unfurl with a dark and infernal purpose, contrastingly ordinal in its delivery. “Ascension through Vanquished Flesh” invokes the raw vitriol that we heard on the previous effort; it is arranged in such a way that it progresses through evolutionary stages; a deliberately uneven orbit through periods of unbound chaos, frantic scrapings at unstable, cracking footholds, until the system crashes around it, almost in profound realisation. It is perhaps the band's best testimony to their technical skill, especially to that of the vocal delivery: primeval and erratic snarls, unconfined by structures that I promise are most unlike many extreme Metal bands you have heard.
“Abandone all Hope” is a unique amalgamation of genres, with a strong Thrash Metal presence down to a hypnotic, group chant, layered under the hellishly fast riff deliveries. It features an intriguing duality between two contrasting vocal presences, which works to add a new, unforeseen dimension to the track. The stellar lead guitar work percolates as lava through fissures; one of the strongest, if not my personal favourite, tracks on the record. “Blade of Brutus” is the album's Leviathan, running for over 8 minutes, and sums up the album in all manner of ways. Representing a message of philosophical significance, it simultaneously progressive and bombastic, and gathers together a myriad of soundscapes from the heavy and claustrophobic, to the chest-beating and fire-spitting.
It is no wonder this band can be proud to claim as once sharing a stage with BEHEMOTH; well-established in their home country, Metal of this calibre deserves not to be restricted by geography and communication boundaries, but to be experienced by all the world's lovers of the blackened, the deadly, the thrashing and the downright evil.
Slumbering in the abyss, murky visions of death
Gasping for air, inhaling my last breath
Crucified to the earth, by the sign of the Goat
The cold steel chain, gripped tight around my throat
Lucid I awake, no longer a nightmare
The black monks expressionless, as I am made brutally aware
The startling revelation, that I am but carrion
To the birds above, a cruel death for a barbarian
Begging to the gods, for their holy mercy
But for my blasphemy, they forbade me
Torment and torture, beyond belief
I scream out in vain, for my release
I shall become, their unholy feast
To those foul, crooked, feathered beasts
Awaiting the true horror, no longer can I pretend
Still alive, as the vultures descend
Pre-Chorus:
(You will fall!) Down towards an impious earth of unspeakable blasphemy
(There you will see!) Unimaginable despair and cruelty beyond corporeal suffering
(One will stand!) Upon the precipice of life and death, a revenant will rise in doom
(The Cosmos shall burn!) Sentenced the traitorous swine to endless darkness and gloom
Chorus:
You will never see, the burning darkness that devours, an inverted Jacob’s Ladder for the Apotheosis of Death
The Sol Invictus devoid, slitting his throat triumphantly, bereft of life, suffocating on his last blood-curdled breath
In all its blasphemy, nothing will be left save ash, in the cosmos created by the Apotheosis of Death
Upon the throne of victory, those who are too weak, shall eternally bleed in torment in Hades beneath
Staring out, with vacant eyes
My spirit wretched, from my flesh
Solemnly the black monks, stare jeeringly
Excruciatingly, as the shedding of skin begins atrociously
Beyond all hope, my life extinguished
As my bones are naught but the birds’ excrement
Seeking solstice, in the reign of the vultures descent
Upon Jacob’s Ladder, I shall ascend
Pre-Chorus:
(You will fall!) Down towards an impious earth of unspeakable blasphemy
(There you will see!) Unimaginable despair and cruelty beyond corporeal suffering
(One will stand!) Upon the precipice of life and death, a revenant will rise in doom
(The Cosmos shall burn!) Sentenced the traitorous swine to endless darkness and gloom
Chorus:
You will never see, the burning darkness that devours, an inverted Jacob’s Ladder for the Apotheosis of Death
The Sol Invictus devoid, slitting his throat triumphantly, bereft of life, suffocating on his last blood-curdled breath
In all its blasphemy, nothing will be left save ash, in the cosmos created by the Apotheosis of Death
Upon the throne of victory, those who are too weak, shall eternally bleed in torment in Hades beneath
Demonic laughter, at my own insanity
At the total absurdity of my life draining before me
Spitting catatonic, upon the crooked face of death
Lungs collapsing, I shall become one with violence
I shall become, the hammer of doom
Damn mankind, like a stillborn in the womb
The despair of humanity, the bane of existence
Vultures descend, I shall become one with violence
Wielding black death, the downfall of hypocrisy
The torrential waters, of Acheron shall flow within me
The black monks, established weakness
Embodying the rage, I shall become one with violence
Smite the disease of spirit, by becoming one with death
The disembodied souls, deceived into shacklement
The cosmos must burn, manically, I must transcend
Upon the inverted Jacob’s Ladder, I descend...
Philadelphia upstarts Crypt Sermon cleave yet another epic slab o' doom full of fantastical thrills and kickass solos. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 25, 2019
