FIENDS AT FEAST / TRAGIC DEATH
Purgatory Rites (Split Album)
Horror Pain Gore Death Productions (2014)
Rating: 7/10
|
|
I’ve always enjoyed split projects; alongside compilation albums, they are a good way of introducing bands to people.
Horror Pain Gore Death Productions presents Purgatory Rites, a seven-track album boasting four numbers from Californian black / death metallers Fiends At Feast and three choice cuts from Wisconsin black metal horde Tragic Death. The latter is a trio who opt for melodic strains within their chosen field, while quintet Fiends At Feast churn out an old school death metal grind with intense black metal influence.
The careers of both acts mirror each other in some way. Each band has a debut album under its belt and so to join forces seems beneficial. Fiends At Feast open proceedings with ‘Four Winds Of Destruction’, but I have to say that I’m slightly irritated by the double vocal sneer which incorporates a deathly grunt alongside a black metal screech – I’m not sure that this works. Even so, the music is a fast blast daubed on blasphemy and occult grimness. The press release states that fans of Morbid Angel, Dissection, Gorgoroth, Immortal, Marduk, Watain and Emperor will enjoy this and to an extent I can see why, although the band is certainly not as old school sounding as I expected.
There are some nice shifts into melodic passages where the solos are strong and almost melancholic in their nature, but as the combo rushes into ‘Through Immortal Gates’ I‘m finding this a rather bland affair, especially with those frequent speedy flushes. For me, the vocals work better in the black metal sense as they seem to fit the music more. Yes, the band is comfortable at fusing black and death metal but it’s a genre that rarely excites me unless a band has something really special to offer.
‘Spectral Passageway’ begins with a nice, melodic, simmering intro and remains that way before a sudden skip into further melodic black metal territory with ‘Into The Darkness’ which is the band at its most progressive. A tumbling bass, a steady yet invigorating segment of percussion and a cold gust of wind leads us into a familiar barrage of blackened death metal, and then we are onto Tragic Death’s trio of tunes.
For me this act is far superior to Fiends At Feast as they have a more direct, no frills approach and if anything are far weightier. ‘Suffer The Salvation’ seems to have more in common with old school death metal than I was promised with Fiends At Feast. The track is a dark, steady churning water of immense chesty, guttural vocals and a bone-breaking rhythm section that boasts the percussive talents of Cody Stein and the fluent guitar strains of Steve Moser, who also provides the vocal attack. There are some excellent progressive passages within the track, giving an air of the cosmic.
With ‘Withering Youth’ the suspense is built nicely with the opening shimmering chords before the approach of thunderous drums and a rigorous bass gallop. For those of you who enjoyed, say, Immortal at their deathliest, then you’ll lap up the blood that seeps from the armour of this beast.
Tragic Death are adept at combining black and death metal, providing fleshy dynamics and invention as they wrap things up with the excellent ‘The Dissolution Of The Clay Children’, which has an icy blast of scathing guitars and searing vocal rasps. Of the three tracks this has to be the blackest on show and a perfectly harsh way to seal victory for Tragic Death in this two-horse race.
Neil Arnold
