This is the debut album from Fathomless Ritual, a solo death metal band from Canada.
Brought to us by a member of Gutvoid, Hymns for the Lesser Gods is a 39-minute slab of foul death metal. Old-school and cavernous, it fuses technical skill with brute force, making for an unholy merging of sophistication and simplicity.
The shade of Demilich hovers closely over Fathomless Ritual’s rotting corpse, haunting with its menacing presence. Behind this lurk echoes of Tomb Mold, Immolation, Mortiferum, and Artificial Brain, adding their own auras to the malignant atmosphere.
The music is murky and malevolent, managing to present as a technical, rhythmic form of filthy old-school nastiness that’s unusual in its personality. Despite its unyielding veneer, there’s an underground accessibility to this that’s startling, and very quickly it worms its way into your head and sets up home.
There’s a slithering groove here that’s infectious, but it’s frequently backed not by chunky rhythms, (although there are a good helping of those too), but by intricate riffs that grow surprisingly catchy over time. Some of these riffs though, wow…they just grab you and won’t let go.
The vocals are little more than disgusting gurgles, but these somehow manage to stay on the right side of listenable.
Hymns for the Lesser Gods is a twisted work of groovy heaviness that’s darkly grim and moreish. Fathomless Ritual’s debut album gets under your skin with its insistent clarion call, and it would be foolish to ignore its horrific charms.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 