Impetuous Ritual - Relentless Execution of Ceremonial Excrescence (2009)

For long-time listeners of alternative music that pushes towards the extreme, there might be a few instances when an artist comes around, chops up your confidence and shuts you down for a bit. Meaning that, as much death metal as you can ever listen, you'll never be ready for the monstrous entity that is Impetuous Ritual. And that's just one example.

The band originates from Australia and shares members with Portal (not sure which was first), and if you aren't already frightened, you should be. In a way, Portal is actually easier to decipher than this, even though that's not a metric for anything. 

Their debut Relentless Execution of Ceremonial Excrescence is so primitive and mad, with a dissonant, hypnotic atmosphere and exerting so much hatred, that going into a regular death metal album afterwards feels like trying cider after having ten shots of whiskey in a row.

The production is murky as hell, and the whole album is plain hell. Awesome riffs rise from the swamp every now and then, and bear-like vocals makes you question if these are humans or not, but not in the cute manner that it just sounds brutal. It is legitimately unsettling.

While it's a given you won't understand shit, the lyrics of the record are perfect. After you bury your head in the dirt, the music is too, and after climbing the learning curve that's required for Impetuous Ritual to make sense, this is one of the realest reasons why death metal is worth it as an art.

If you scratch it down to its singular foundational point, that's what all this probably sounds and feels like. Bestial, in slow or fast pace, as cold and desperate as an eternity in isolation. 

I admit I haven't listened to their later stuff as much as I should, but I have done so with this, and maybe I gotta take one album per five years not to turn into Di Caprio in Shutter Island. If you like this, probably no one likes you. In Flames and Soilwork come with better social stamps, but hey, the path you choose.

Yet deliverance is decay

Lucidity in ash - Interview with Kato

Right from their first demo Nadir in 2020, Kato showed signs of a unique presence in the underground scene. The signs become reality with the project's debut EP Conflagration this year, a majestic, multifaceted work of complex black / death metal that includes turns in a lot of different directions, well balanced heaviness and striking songwriting. A short Arson Cafe question and answer session with the mastermind behind it, simply named George, sheds some more light into this growing project.

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• Welcome to Arson Cafe, go ahead and share a short introduction of Kato.

Thank you for the interest. Kato is my music project that started in 2020. From that start, a demo and now an EP have been released with hopefully more to come. I’m not interested in adhering to standard genre classifications, so the way I like to describe the music is layed and caustic metal. 

• "Kato Kosmos" means the underworld in Greek. What led you to pick such a name?

Contrary to what most people would think this has nothing to do with the biblical underworld. As a whole, the intention of this project was to explore the true human reality. From my experiences in the US, a facade has been built to distract and offer some semblance of meaning to our existence. That truth that lies beneath is where I draw inspiration for this project.

The use of the Greek language stems from the influence Greek culture had in the formation of the civilization which has permeated at least through much of the Western world.

• Already from the first demo, Kato's production is quite professional. Do you self-produce your material?

Thank you for the compliment. For the most part, yes, I do handle the producing and production work myself. One big exception for this most recent release was handing over the mastering work to Greg Chandler at Priory Recording Studio. Truthfully, Greg also offered some feedback as I was finishing up the mixing so his influence is also notable to how this release sounds. 

• "Conflagration" can be considered the first main release of the band. First of all, what does the artwork represent?

The artwork depicts the eradication of the walls that have been built in our deceptive consciousness. I think it’s also important to note that the title and artwork were the very first seeds of this release. From their creation it influenced and was used as a guiding light throughout the whole creation of the EP. 

• The EP has several interesting twists and turns, what is the concept behind it?

The full flow of the EP is indeed that process of clearing the mind; removing the walls of the conscious. You burn within to reveal your essence : the absence of everything.  

• I could listen to slight elements of more dissonant black metal, but also tremolo picking similar to the modern Norwegian scene. What are some of Kato's musical influences?

Yes, what you were hearing were all very much influences in my writing. Beyond that, my goal wasn’t to have this project limited to one singular sound or genre. I’ll pull influences from all sorts of art and artists. In the musical realm it can go from Abigor to Aluk Todolo; from King Crimson to King Diamond. As long as it fits the theme and doesn’t feel forced, it’s fair game in my book. 

• Great melodic passages, especially in "Within". What is the creative process for your project, and how do you decide what fits to be put together?

Having that overarching theme and concept while building the music really helps me in figuring out how the music should flow. For this project, I wasn’t interested in adhering to a standard verse-chorus structure to the songs and I tried to make them more through-composed in nature. 

In the end, it’s hard to really put into words why certain decisions are made while creating a song. It ultimately has to feel right and support the larger goal at hand. 

• The lyrics bring a bit of Ulcerate in mind, showcasing fair amounts of desperation and hopelessness. Where do you draw inspiration for writing them?

I think that’s a fair assessment on the overarching emotion in the lyrical themes. Philosophy work around Existential Nihilism for sure was a big influence around this concept. Peter Zapffe’s The Last Messiah is an important work along with even René Descartes and his exploration of human consciousness. 

• To whom is the last line of the third track, going "Your Essence", referring to?

That’s to everyone. The stark nightmare nirvana is our essence. It’s fleeting and hard to fully grasp, but it’s a reality we’ll eventually discover. 

• Is Conflagration a result of constant work since the 2020 demo? Are you also working on the next material of the project?

More or less, yes, it was a constant process from the demo. The forming of the concept and artwork took some time after the demo to coalesce, but from there the writing process was pretty steady. 

The idea for the next release is just about there. I'm planning out the artwork and the beginnings of a song are emerging, but it’s too early to say what it will look like in the end. 

• What would be the take-home message the listener should take after a few listening sessions of the EP?

Hmm, that’s an interesting question. I mean on one hand, I would hope that the overall concept of the EP I discussed would translate to the listener, and that’s where I think the lyrics are an integral part of the experience. However, as with any art it’s really open to interpretation, and far be it from me to stand in the way of someone finding a different meaning in the work. At the end of the day, if someone willingly sits down to listen to the project and explores what’s within, then that’s all I can really ask for. 

• Thanks for your time and efforts, I'm leaving the closing remarks to you.

Thank you very much for the interest and the great questions.

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Listen to Conflagration:

Bandcamp | Youtube

Portal - Avow (2021) Review

A confusing headache

The Australian band Portal have a long history since their inception in the mid 90’s and definitely one of the most unique projects in extreme metal, posing as a challenge to the ears even of experienced listeners. There are not a lot – if any – other artists that manipulate sound like them, as the term death metal is only set by convenience and not because it is reminiscent of the genre’s typical examples. In fact, it couldn’t be more far away. It’s not driven by extreme technicality either, but instead wrapped around tense and ugly cacophony that shreds the average idea of riff / song structure completely. 

Big shoes had to be filled after their, in my opinion, most dominant album to date, Ion from 2018. That record has their craft mastered and in frenzy, with a cutting edge production, fully aggressive and non-linear turnarounds that I still haven’t recovered from since it was released three years ago. I learned the band with Swarth, another beloved but not their best album, while the further back one goes, more and more murkiness thrives in their material. I think Portal had a great decade in the 10’s, but every time I am through with one of their releases I don’t feel like expecting another one. This makes the waiting time between records easy, but to experience new work is always a new challenge, especially when it’s not one but two full albums. As the release of Avow had been announced for the year, the band dropped a second surprise album the same day, named Hagbulbia, and the way I decided to listen to these was one after the other and with no prior reading / listening to singles or sneak peaks of what they might contain. Such is this band that it is very difficult to have your attention elsewhere when they’re playing. At first glance, it can be noticed how they return to dark grey / black cover art after the slight more different artwork of Vexovoid and Ion, which also hints the earlier records.

I don’t have any kind of expectations before going into a Portal record, mainly because of the kind of uniqueness they have. And honestly, Avow takes off with its longest track “Catafalque” that half way through was for me rather dull and ineffective in what this band achieves usually. The cutthroat sound of Ion is missing but the composition itself feels like it’s halting, it gets too repetitive with unimaginative riffing and delivers not even close to the impact that the listener is used to from this extraordinary project. The same frustrating pace is kept with the second track “Eye”, both of which do not appear to me as Portal’s bright moments when it comes to longer running tracks (“Olde Guarde” from Ion was brilliant). Such mannerism of slower, more minimal parts in their songs apart from the frenetic faster moments, seems to be overly exercised in Avow as Portal adapt more and more clearer noise elements (again, the noise track from Ion was brilliant) but it doesn’t manage to maintain the crushing atmosphere it aims for, while at the same time being quite unstable between its different songs. For its first half, the record does not have by any means the successful flow of previous releases.

Going harder and radically more extreme, as Portal used to do, is a rare occurrence in Avow. A few instances in “Manor of Speaking” bring back some of this glory, as well as the last track “Drain”, but there is not much more other than unfathomable monotony with unclear purpose, at least to me. I don’t think I have heard a piece as repetitive and predictable as “Bode” from the group for example, which shows how for the most part either they didn’t really know how to fill the empty parts of their compositions, or the experiment simply failed in this release. At least it is not easygoing or any softer at all than what we are used from them, and the uncommon song constructions are presented through the band’s own mindset, so you will definitely recognize this as a Portal record from the first seconds. In a more general sense, it could still be enjoyed a lot from the band’s fans, while for me the idea will be simple from now on, sticking to specific older material where real scare and substantial darkness are present. Comparing Ion and this back to back, is a quite clear indication of this band’s highs and lows.

Portal went for a form of musical disintegration with Avow, which still has the main elements of the band that makes them loved among their fans. For me, the idea was not acutely conveyed, as I found several times throughout the listen that the material was aching and the tracks didn’t deliver, resulting in an overall underwhelming effort with just a few fine, scattered moments. As for Hagbulbia, a pure noise record with some hints authentic intensity, it was this, that saved the day and the year in regards to the band for me. In an otherwise disappointing effort, Portal decide to make some material that steps even further from metal and more into abusive electronics, joined by The Curator’s imposing vocals makes up a fine outcome. 

Damage “Avow” : 2/5 [Below Average]
Damage “Hagbulbia”: 3/5 [Good]

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