ALBUM REVIEW: Rapturous Flesh Consumed – Heretical Sect
New Mexico isn’t a state that is well known for its black metal scene. Although the US black metal scene has come on in leaps and bounds over the course of the last few years, New Mexico hasn’t produced any acts that have gained any widespread attention and acclaim in the way that many other states have. That is, until now. Santa Fe’s HERETICAL SECT have not only managed to establish their place within their local underground scene relatively quickly, but also place themselves at the forefront of the wider US black metal scene. This is no small part due to their excellent debut full-length, Rapturous Flesh Consumed, only their second release altogether, an album that is a melting pot of black, death and doom metal that gives the band a very different, and extremely impressive, sound.
Rising Light of Lunacy starts things off with a grating slab of black metal with eerie leads, immersive vocals and a gargantuan drum sound, which manages to be as bombastic as it is harsh. The murky tone of the guitars and sludgy basslines add a lot of flavour to the proceedings, making for an engrossing and powerful affair. Baptismal Rot and Ash, by contrast, is a monolithic piece of music built around slower, and far thicker, guitars, which still capture the ethereal quality of the album’s opener, with the crawling, cymbal heavy drums adding a hypnotic edge to the rest of the music.
Although the music is, as a whole, far more minimalist, with a few bursts of chaotic intensity thrown in for good measure, the production gives each element of the song a massive, grandiose feel that draws the listener in, remaining captivating from start to finish. Where it’s predecessor was more reserved and doom-laden, The Depths of Weeping Infinity goes straight for the jugular, with excellent, speed-driven guitar work and energetic, frenzied drumming lending a more urgent and aggressive side to the music, with the arid snarls and sonorous chants of the vocals sliding in and out of the cacophony and maintaining their unpredictable, ritualistic feel, adding an atmospheric bent to this brief burst of brutality.
Degradation Temple sees the more dramatic doom metal influence that initially made its presence known on the second track return with a vengeance, with plenty of dark, brooding riffs infiltrating the discordant black metal that makes up the bulk of this song. The doom influences that underpin everything work extremely well here, and play off the harsher black metal ones quite well, complementing and amplifying this songs many strengths to a significant degree.
The criminally short Resurrection Sky incorporates electronics into its haunting, atmospheric sound, adding yet another layer to HERETICAL SECT‘s already diverse and fantastic sound, leaning into the shadowy, ritualistic feel that has run throughout this record perfectly, and acting as a great segue into the sixth and final number on the album, Ritual Inversion; This last track takes a solidly black metal approach to the guitars, but adds a reverb drenched tone that makes for a hazy and beguiling sound right out of the gate. The guitars really are the key focus of this song, with the more primal drumming and visceral vocal deliveries combining with the borderline psychedelic aspects of the guitars, making for an incredibly engrossing and memorable way to bring this album to its conclusion.
As far as debut albums go, this is fantastic. It’s incredibly rare for any band to not only establish their sound so early on in their career, but also practically perfect it. In the nearly two years between this album and the EP that preceded it, Rotting Cosmic Grief, it’s clear that HERETICAL SECT have significantly improved upon their sound and style, with the harsher and more blackened doom orientated nature of the former giving way to the layered and imaginative approach of the latter, and a sharper production that makes the music all the more engrossing. There’s very few albums in the last year that have managed to capture the more primitive and bestial side of black metal in the way Rapturous Flesh Consumed has, and it’s cemented HERETICAL SECT as a potentially world class black metal act.
Rating: 9/10
Rapturous Flesh Consumed is out now via Gilead Media.
Like HERETICAL SECT on Facebook.