CEREMONY OF SILENCE — Oútis (review)

Album · 2019 · Technical Death Metal

3.5/5 · 2024-04-07
siLLy puPPy

The procession of technical death metal marches on well into the 21st century and as the years cede to decades the incremental changes seem to continue to ratchet up the musical form into almost unrecognizable amalgamations of sound when compared to the nascent old school death metal acts that are now well over 30 years in the past. In recent years the trend to meld dissonant abstract death metal riffing with overtly blackened mood setting embellishments has become the new norm in death metal evolution and there is certainly no shortage of bands jumping on this technically demanding bandwagon that was popularized by Gorguts’ 1998 masterwork “Obscura” and slowly but surely has been taken to new extremes ever since.

CEREMONY OF SILENCE is one of the newer kids on the block spawned in the midlands section of Slovakia in the city of Zvolen. Formed in 2015 this mere duo of Vilozof (guitar, bass, vocals) and Svjatogor (drums) has mastered the seemingly impossible task of balancing long abstract technical workouts with grace and implements just as much atmospheric elegance as it does delivering the relentless pummelation of dissonant death metal bombast. Having studied well at the University of Claustrophobic Cacophony with a PHD with degrees in everything Ulcerate, Sunless, Artificial Brain and Howls of Ebb, CEREMONY OF SILENCE released its own slice of technical disso-death in the form of OÚTIS (a term that means “Nobody” in Ancient Greek) which pummeled fans of the style into submission in early 2019.

What CEREMONY OF SILENCE delivers on OÚTIS is an atonal brutality run amok with the now common abstract death metal antics proposed by Gorguts and Portal and taken far afield by newer acts like Ulcerate, Ad Nauseam, Pyrrhon and Mitochondria. Adding to the bleakness are those infamous spidery guitar sweeps brought to the greater metal world’s attention by none other than the black metal legends Deathspell Omega and of course it wouldn’t be a proper disso-death technical marathon without the buried anguished grunts and growls delivered amidst the incessant atmospheric turmoil. By dishing out ample doses of cyclical repetition amongst the oft aimless drifting throughout OÚTIS, CEREMONY OF SILENCE does an excellent job of evoking the abstract din of classic Incantation while keeping an alienating reference to the modern trends of death metal that your parents just wouldn’t fully understand.

OÚTIS truly delivers a product of outstanding proportions with the proper ingredients required for a modern disso-death classic yet falls just short of cutting the ties with the pioneers that proceeded and the obvious influences that coalesced into every brutal metal workouts and abstract atmospheric swirly-fest however CEREMONY OF SILENCE proves without a doubt they are worthy of entering the sacred chambers where only the most skilled and technically adept can craft a veritable 21st century excursion into one of metal’s most alienating sectors. The album showcases an excellent balancing act with accessible rhythmic chunks alternating with the less tangible nature of dissonant meandering. While Vilozof does well by serving as guitarist, bassist and grower-in-chief, it’s really the percussive fortitude of skin slayer Svjatogor who animates this album with nuanced precision.

All in all there are little or no complaints about the seven tracks and 35 minute playing time of CEREMONY OF SILENCE’s thus far sole contribution to the world of tech disso-death however the nagging comparisons to the aforementioned bands do ring true to the point that the blurry abstractness of the atmospheric uncertainties cross over into the realms of identifiable idiosyncrasies which CEREMONY OF SILENCE doesn’t quite muster up at this stage. While an excellent slice of technical abstractness fortified by the most competent bouts of proficiency, ultimately the band comes off as an abstract blur of originality where one disso-death band bleeds into another. A surge of creative infusion would go a long way but having said that it is of little doubt that this masterful duo has conjured up some magnificent sounds that showcase the unadulterated spirit of modern extreme metal. An excellent ominous entry into the ever-growing field of disso-death technical wizardry and one that will surely please fans of this wild raucous style of metal.