Mind you, the songs on the record are not that funereal or slow. The band likes to keep things on a mid-paced tempo in the vein of luminaries like Asphyx, Hooded Menace or even Bolt Thrower if you’d like. Behind the drum kit we find Wayne Sarantopoulos who does not only play in Conjureth along his two other bandmates, but is also bashing the pigskins on the fantastic yet far underrated doom death mastodon Encoffination and used to play in the finest Incantation re-enactment band Father Befouled. Compared to Conjureth, Tumulation does shift gears down significantly, being far less frenetic and chaotic. You do notice it’s done by the same three guys, though. Many of the songs were also already featured on their ‘Savage Blood Domain’ Bandcamp demo from earlier this year, which basically just shows how good those songs already were.

It kicks off with ‘Emergent Chaos Spirals’ which is a new song that is essentially a short, but still riff heavy instrumental intro. It’s a cool to start off the album as it builds up slowly, yet eschews the traditional synth intro, even though that is a really nineties thing to do. I would have preferred it though if it would flow more naturally into the next track ‘Shattered under the Eclipse’, but now I’m being the nitpicky reviewer who has to give some critique at least, right?

‘Astral Sickness’ is another new song that finds itself definitely more on the deathlier side of things. It starts off quite slow, but then lurches itself brutally forward and doesn’t really slow down again before the last minute or so. From ‘Rorschach’ onwards the record is interspersed generously with samples from various vampire movies from the classic Hammer stable. Now, although this is not exactly the most original move, it is always fun and suiting to get those in there.

‘Sterilizing Winds’ rages through an inferno of that in the calm of the storm finds some nice Candlemass style classic bendy doom riffing. The tandem of ‘Rites of Forgotten Misery’ and ‘Bound to the Rakasha’ must be my favorites of the whole album. ‘Abject Maelstrom Specters’ closes the record and in opposition to the foreboding menace of the opening track, this is one is the calm aftermath with a bit of an Anathema vibe to it.

If you like your death doom to have a bit of punch to it with big cojones hanging underneath all that gloom, then check these guys out!

Links