This is more blackened than the predecessor and shows the first impressive results of Scáth Na Dêithe on their way to their own style. A very dark and intense release. mourner
Subterranean blackened doom rituals of ending/beginning. Now I have excavated the blackest depths of my soul, and wallowing here in rot and decay, anointed by filthy deliquescent ichors, I am my self transformed. Each day is riven agony, laboring painfully step by leaden step toward the night. With sweat and blood and bones I build a ladder spiraling downward, upward, inward, outward, endlessly. Dave Aftandilian
This is exactly how I like my metal of death. Why this has only come to my attention recently is beyond me, but I sure am glad it has. Dissonant, chaotic, festering, malignant, and putrid. There are obvious echoes akin to other purveyors of metal of death such as Portal, Altarage and Dead Congregation, but The Ominous Circle, like the aforementioned bands, stand alone in their delivery, and Appalling Ascension remains a distinct experience. One well worth having, over and over again. 𝖙𝖜𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖔𝖋𝖜𝖆𝖙𝖘𝖔𝖓
Anything from Brendan Sloan automatically has my attention, and as expected, the Convulsing part of this earth-heaving split is excellent blackened death metal, but the Siberian Hell Sounds track, in its blackened grind glory, totally floored me. Discovering this five years after its release has been one of 2022’s unexpected delights. SHS, perhaps peaking here, never released anything thereafter, and while Convulsing has improved, this dissonant and non-Euclidean work is mandatory listening. Ippocalyptica