Even though the year 2023 has brought some exquisite releases from genres of death metal and black metal, I was somehow digging into the new albums perchance that I would find something doomy and apocalyptic sounding album. And I couldn’t be more content with this discovery. Prior to that, I was listening to the band Kommand, and I was wondering if there were more bands that play this kind of oppressive style of death metal, suffice it to say that this release is quite promising.

“Mass Grave Horizon” starts off with an ominous guitar intro “Abjection” which clearly tackles the slow doom sections in the darkest abyssal realms of underground metal. The drenched-reverb growling and the riffing are influenced by early Paradise Lost albums such as “Lost Paradise”. Excarnated Entity bashes in the wicked and oppressive manner with the crushing drums beating very fast and the creepy tone of the searing tremolos playing brute riffs while the heavy drum beats generate an atmosphere of chilling darkness in the following track “Carcinogen Shroud”.

The weighty guitars confine the listener to a dark, claustrophobic opus of creepy led guitars and chilling chords that resonate like chiming bells of doom. The album’s cover somehow resembles the classic cover art of the U.S. death doom band Winter, which shows the deep inspiration of the band. “Irradiated Shadows” immediately bludgeons the hell out of your skull, the tight drumming gives the music a rawer sound and ultra-heaviness that comes with lines of bands like Gorement, Hooded Menace, and Bolt Thrower.

The riffs of the album are laden with a sense of doom and the drums ultimately focus on fast brutal tempos, all-encompassing utter aggression. As a result, Excarnated Entity combines some killer grooves, fast-mauling double bass attacks, and the brutality of old-school death metal. The album’s production has a raw and muddy feel and shows how the songs are brimming with bludgeoning sections. The lead guitars are laden with hooks as they recapture the classic doom melodies of Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, all of these elements are perfectly enclosed over the time length of approximately forty-four minutes. The eight-minute track “Corridor of Flame” echoes with the menacing tone of the rumbling guitar riffs and is skillfully placed to provide an unnerving crushing sound.

The riffing accentuates the morbid atmosphere and consequently, the slow tempos weave an eerie melody, slow chugging riffing effect as the whole tempo shifts to sound extremely oppressive. Churning doom chords create horrific images of mass death and charred trees covered in chemical ashes; the loud percussion always finds the right moment to launch crushing attacks before the rumbling bass guitar is brought to the fore. Excarnated Entity aptly develops its unique style by building intensity and embracing the quintessential of death/doom metal. “Paralytic Reverie” offers morose dirges as the quartet shows off their ability to strike parallel mood shifts with riffs which gestures the trademark of morbid death metal.

The album’s title track “Mass Grave Horizon” showcases the shift in tempos from slow chugging to a crushing drumbeat filled with cavernous low growls carrying the lead guitar melodies, and the never-ending misery that befalls ahead. “The Butcher’s Pulpit” then begins to paint lifeless vistas of scorched earth with a clear emphasis on the guitars, unleashing melancholic guitar solos. These elements seemingly send frigid musty air into the composition the riffing and the melodies flow very well with the pacing of the drums, Excarnated Entity brilliantly fuses old-school doom metal riffs. By the second half of the album, the quartet seamlessly becomes more inclined towards increasing the melancholic tone without dropping the rawness effect of the drums and the heavy riffs.

The final track “Gallery of Defeat” is one of the longest tracks in the album and begins with the gloomy guitar melodies taking a shift before the drums pick up the pace and launch cataclysmic beats relying on double bass kicks to the sweeping riff-driven melodies. The smooth transitions of the percussion and the tempo changes are rather intense and drenched in ultra-heaviness and uplifted by the ebbing and flowing of the lead guitars.

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