Shroud Of The Heretic are a pretty young formation, formed in 2009 (Oregon-based, for your important information), and known for a pretty interesting demo, Boiled To Death. This demo was released on vinyl and CD, respectively via Blood Harvest and Craneo Negro (just like this release). In between that debut record and this new effort, Revelations In Alchemy, the band shared the stage with e.g. Old Skin, Grave Upheaval and Ritual Necromancy, and in mean time they (Thom, JT and Lauren) are working on a first full album too; but that is a part of the story to will follow soon, though not yet…
Revelations In Alchemy (41:19 minutes) is a massive collection of monstrous and monolithic Death Metal anthems in the so-called Metal Of Death-vein. Lately it is rather common to label a new effort this way, but in this band’s case, I think it might be considered an honour. And yes, it is a blessing for the Metal Of Death-scene as well. This material is so vile and grumpy, yet at the same time so ingeniously simplistic. This exhales the purest essence of obscure, horrific, abyssal and morbid Death Metal, translating an old school approach into a timeless monument. Yes, it sounds filthy, and yes, it sounds unpolished, but such a dirty, nasty sound is the only way to express this merciless sonic beauty in its full glory. Maybe, just maybe, the production is too dull, too misty (okay, let’s forget my appreciation for a moment: the sound is not satisfying; roughness and underground, all right, but this is crap), but I wouldn’t have been pleased either with a clinically polished production either (at all).
What I do appreciate too is the tempo. Whole the time, extremely slow, luggish parts interfere with fierce ones, and once in a while it gets embellished with hypnotic interludes from the deepest pits of Mater Terra. And I would understand it if a complete album of this stuff would be too intense to fully experience, because indeed this stuff is pretty heavy on the stomach (and the brain). But I promise you that it is worth it to hold on.
For fans of: Anhedonist, Portal, Disembowelment, Serpentine Path, Obliteration or Mitochondrion.
[I’d like to refer as well to (reviews done by undersigned by) the likes of Abyssal (February 10th 2014) or Malthusian (March 4th 2014) amongst others, if you like this kind of ugliness…]