Ominous Scriptures "The Fall of the Celestial Throne" Review

 

Willowtip Records doles out another dose of death metal – this time with a twist of Belarusian brutality.

    Forgive me, as I’m going to begin with a digression: I revisited the movie As Above, So Below a few weeks ago and since then I’ve become a little preoccupied with the study of Christian mysticism what with all the references to “Dante’s Inferno” strewn throughout its creepy Parisian catacombs setting. Good movie, a little underrated if I do say so myself. Anyway, after I stumbled upon this new Ominous Scriptures release I realized how serendipitous it was that I happened to watch that and suddenly find myself neck deep in old-fashioned theological subject matter regarding heaven and hell, now that I had a matching musical thesis to go along with my research. Now, brace yourselves, because I don’t think we have a Dante Alighieri level of storytelling here (barring the connection of 9 tracks with the 9 circles of hell that is definitely intentional and in no way coincidental) but I think you’re going to like what they’ve put together anyway.

    Now, going back to 2016’s Incarnation of the Unheavenly, I could see myself potentially overlooking this release, had I heard it at the time. The production is a bit rough, with instruments not each given their own chance to truly shine, and while the songwriting is great, I feel that it’s dragged down too much by the tinny-sounding snare and overly-fuzzy guitars. But I’ll be damned (!) if it didn’t show promise. These guys know how to create a frighteningly abrasive soundscape, not only in instrumentation but also in overall aesthetic. One need only check the thunderstorm outro on the third track, listening to what I can only imagine are the groans of the recently deceased as Charon guides you across the river Styx before launching into the next hail of tumultuous blastbeats, or the auditory nightmare of “Darkness” where shackles clank around you as you shuffle through the sweltering landscape, bells tolling ominously in the background (“Mom, I can smell the fire and brimstone already! Are we almost there?”). Clocking in at 25 minutes though, this initial effort feels more along the lines of an EP, though it’s billed as a full-length. It just feels like a prelude to something, a black mark to signal the true evil approaching. And now, to match the purgatorial ordeal that is 2020, we have Ominous Scriptures’ second draught of anguish and misery in the form of The Fall of the Celestial Throne, and boy did they deliver.

    Immediately, and I mean immediately upon hearing the opening seconds of “Incinerating Winds of the Apocalypse”, you can tell that these gentlemen mean business. The guitars chug with the full weight of a freight train behind them, and the drums are focused in with laser precision. Online, the band have said that Hate Eternal’s 1999 record Conquering The Throne was one of a few influences, and this is evident very quickly. The composition hearkens back to Ye Olde 2000s brutal death metal in a big way, whether it be through the frantic transitions or tremolo’d leads But this recording uses current-day production advantages to their full potential. Everything here just sounds clinical levels of clean, but in the filthiest way possible, if that could even be jumbled around enough to make sense. Even the feedback on the guitar parts sounds like it was analyzed under an electron microscope and tweaked until the producer was satisfied enough to make a chef’s kiss motion. “After the Charred Staff of Devil” includes, happily enough for me, more ambient soundscapes to envelop the listener in that ol’ eternal hellfire charm. But can you blame them? What’s more metal than indulging in an aural trip to the underworld, book-ended by gurgling vocals low enough to register a few ticks on the Richter scale and synchronized guitar/drum pounding so catchy that even white-collar banking executives could be caught headbanging to it in the janitorial closet on their lunch break (lest Janet from mergers & acquisitions take notice… she’s always so judgmental).  Either way, by the end of this LP, I guarantee you will have latched onto at least one section and found it so toe-tappingly fun and engaging that you will be waiting with baited breath to see what lies next.

    But let me double back; once fully navigated through the piercing winds and demonic whispers of “After the Charred Staff of Devil”, the album hits its real qualitative high notes. The fifth track is absolutely relentless in its assault, with crushing leads and rhythmic intensity only seen in the likes of a Richard Simmons workout VHS. But seriously though, this piece perfectly summarizes how far the group has come since 2016, with how coherent their sound has become. The bass tones add just the right touch of heft to the already-heavy leads, and the vocal performance is unmatched in its ferocity, right up to the last belch. Similarly, the next two rounds, especially “The Epoch of Desecrating at the Righteous” explore a territory of scorched earth with such a commanding presence that it can be outright difficult not to perk one’s ears up if listening while performing other leisurely activities that don’t actually involve blaspheming. “Light Devouring Blackness” keeps up the chaotic energy long enough to lead into a final minute of a looming two-chord motif which threatens to open up a pit right beneath your feet as if you were standing on a trapdoor to which a wild-eyed imp holds the lever. What lies underneath, you ask? Well, the 9^th and final track of course! And as far as outros go, this one is truly stellar, beginning with machine-gun rapid snare hits and ending with a Nile-esque funeral procession complete with airy chorus chanting in the ambient exit.

    And with that, our time with Ominous Scriptures draws to a close once again. At 28 minutes, it’s not much longer than their first outing, but somehow manages to leave this listener more satisfied, akin to a main course versus the appetizer-like Incarnation. Judging by the evidence on their social media (read: tracks posted from a while ago) it would seem this project has been in the works for quite some time, and I’d be willing to bet that these curators of vile material will be back at it again within a month to craft something just as equally devious, if they aren’t already. So where do they go from here? Well, overall, the album may strike the same notes repeatedly, but it’s hard to fault them when they’re such outstanding notes to begin with. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, as someone I’m sure once said before spitting approximately 5 ounces of long-cut Copenhagen® Wintergreen onto a dirt pile, but maybe some branching out would do our Minsk-hailing friends some good after such a straightforwardly brutal release, maybe incorporating some progressive elements or approaching their next album in a more conceptual way. After all, I have to imagine there’s only so many snare heads one can blast through in a recording session before it becomes a budgetary nightmare… I kid. With this project, Ominous Scriptures have quickly elevated their position into the brutal death metal stratosphere, and I can only dream of what wicked concoction they’ll unleash upon our helpless souls next.

    The Fall of the Celestial Throne is available on all streaming services, including the Ominous Scriptures Bandcamp. Listen here:

-Ryan

Artwork by John Zig