Unearthly Rites - Ecdysis Review

Unearthly Rites are a new kid on the block in Finnish death metal, with only an EP to their name prior to the release of debut full-length, Ecdysis.¹ Formed by scene vets with time spent in Sink, Hexhammer, and Fuck-Ushima, they bring plenty of experience to the party. What Unearthly Rites offer is a ghastly amalgamation of raw old school death, grind, and crust, curated and designed to cave in your face with the resulting unnatural sound profile. This is nasty, fetid reptile shit that sticks to your ribs and cakes your lungs with toxic fumunda cheese. It also features the most inhuman death vocals I’ve heard in a long while. What more could you ask for?

After an instrumental intro that properly sets a dark, ominous mood, the hammer comes down hard with “Deep Drilling Earth’s Crust” and the large and hideous sound will pummel you mercilessly. The guitar tone is ragged and huge, the bass is putrid and those vocals by Sisli are like the gates of Hell flung open with unspeakable atrocities spewing forth. The song swerves from frantic thrashing to crushing mid-tempo grooves with chugs massive enough to flatten Venus and Uranus. It’s a chaotic, messy ride that will leave you feeling like a hit-and-run victim and it reminds me of the glory of Rotpit’s “Slimebreeder,” though this is much heavier. Even better is “The Master’s Tools” which starts off slow and menacing before kicking into a mammoth, sludgy groove that feels like Bolt Thrower on Super-Soldier Serum and bath salts. This thing weighs a fucking ass-ton and it will push you into the Earth’s core before it’s over. “Capitalocenic Nightmare” is another remorseless wargrinder with grooves so big they devour light and warp time and you’ll savor every horrific second.

The title track is raw as fuck but showcases a confident, almost playful swagger even as it puts the boot to your bloody face. Sisli really goes for it here with an abomination of a vocal performance that has to be heard to be disbelieved. “New Venus” also refuses to spare the brutality with a crushing chug-fest heavier than a mountain of titanium ore. The slightly crusty, punky attitude pairs well with the raw straightforward death assault and you get the worst of both styles dumped on your head like so much fresh pig offal. Over the very short 34-minute runtime, only the 2 minutes of “Fuck Ecofascism” feel underdeveloped and disposable. The production is straight from a sewer running under a graveyard and it’s too grisly and gruesome to resist. I love the way this sick beast sounds and how it feels like an anvil collection is slowly crushing me with irresistible mass as it plays out.

Santtu Markko and Simo Perkiömäki bring the war to your door with megaton riffage and spine-dusting chug grooves that shave years off your life expectancy. They aren’t doing anything revolutionary, just crafting huge, oppressive leads that weigh a fucking ton. The solos are jagged, abrasive, and discordant, and everything they do hits the sweet spot in a deranged mind. Jennika Vikman’s bass work is ugly and nasty, with a wonderfully deranged tone. It fills out the sound with fat, bubbling low-end terror and adds to the rich ear mulch. Over all this, Sisli grunts, roars, screams and wails in horrific ways guaranteed to shock and awe. This particular set of lungs should be taken out and studied by modern science because they clearly are not human in origin.

Ecdysis is the kind of little underground gem you stumble upon and fall in love with. It’s so so fucking nasty and slimy and yet somehow catchy and easy to enjoy. Unearthly Rites may be new to the death world, but with a sound this big and engaging, they won’t stay under the sod for long. Get in on the ground floor of the newest plague, because this shit is contagious.