Sickrites have been poisoning our brain since quite a number of years by now and always with top quality according to the standards of certain metal genres, i.e., ultra-heavy, filthy and morbid sounds coupled with grim atmospheres. Some fine releases contributed to build up and consolidate the activity of this Russian band. I want to mention the impressive 2010 debut EP “Praise the Dawn of Desecration” and the two killer 2012 splits with Canadian band Nuclearhammer (“Abomination to the Lord”) and another scary Russian band, Ill Omened (related to Pseudogod, on Nuclear War Now! Productions).
So time has come for the Russian quartet for crowning this impressive first part of their hopefully long career with a more than due release, the debut full-length album. The album is called Irreverent Death Megaliths and came out at the end of September 2013 via the French underground label Cryptic Vision Arts. Irreverent Death Megaliths is a collection of ultra-dark ballads that will make you plunge into a dark and malignant world for over 47 minutes. The full-length is probably the best type of release for adeuately expressing the skill and the creativity of this cool nasty band as well as the multiple shades of their sound and style and also because, we know, darkness has got so many shades …
Let’s meet the sick minds behind this band. Sickrites are Morkh on underworld vocals, A. on guitars, H. on bass and synths and Kim on drums. These guys, who live separated by a few days of travel between each other in the immensity of the Russian distances, like to play old school, definitely, and quite orthodox sepulchral metal stemming from blending and elaborating gruesome slow, sludgy death metal with excursions into wild, infernal black metal. The core of their style is a hybrid encompassing, say, Incantation, early Morbid Angel, Winter, Prophecy of Doom, Bathory, Morbosidad and Celtic Frost. But beside following the references, Sickrites are able to attract the listener with some quite personal, original features in their style. Surprise is one of the winning keys for this band. Sickrites are able to conjugate their “old”, filthy, obscure “tomb” metal driven by distorted guitars, roaring bass and pummeling drumming, with sounds coming from disparate genres. Skills and inspirational song-writing capacity enable these guys to build up impressively rich and haunting songs that continuously unfold their multifaceted nature with repeated listening.
Tracks are oppressive both when dominated by slow plodding, suffocating doomy pace and when lead by tight, breathless martial pumping rhythms cutting down your breath. Mid-tempo rhythms prevail, although whenever doom and gloom prevail, the quartet will soon bring you back to flaming hell by bursting into bonecrushing riffing and insane, war-like blastbeat. But the other way round may happen as well: wild, war-like attacks may digress into almost mournful, slow and atmospheric, doom-laden melodies. An example of this is heard in the majestic opening track Pillars of the Fallen Light. But Sickrites also introduce a host of different elements like spices carefully dosed by an expert chef. You will be often enthralled by a stream of groove provided by the swinging rhythm of Darkthrone-like black metal refrains and probably swift hints to Venom-like heavy metal riffs. You’ll be charmed by the adoption of bizarre solutions (e.g., in Necrogenesis Voids), complex drumming patterns (e.g., in The Temple) and/or almost prog-like, epic narrative riffs (e.g., also in Moloch Ascending).
The Sickrites guys also like to create rapid, scary incursions into bleak industrial ambience or else cosmic terror either via some glacial or unusual post-modern electronic sounds (e.g., in the initial part of track Dwellers of Fleshtombs) or else by inducing some sort of sickly ethereal or venomous psychedelic black metal atmospheres distantly recalling Oranssi Pazuzu. For example, try the greatly atmospheric closing track Procession to Belial. In track The Rite the band even depict definitively northern, glaciated atmospheres by means of a ritual, almost funereal chanting echoing in the wind and, surprisingly, introducing a charming, dark folk-like ballad, very much in the vein of the Wardruna experience! All these different ingredients and details are being combined into Sickrites’ nasty, toxic, incandescent, occult black-death metal which will eventually leave you with a sensation of mysterious darkness. Morkh’s vocals effectively contribute to impart that sense of archaic solemnity. Morkh’s growl is mostly deep, low and very menacing, more sepulchral than beast-like. His style is comparable with a type of chanting that I personally enjoy hugely and which is heard in several occult death and doom-death metal bands like Wrathprayer, Void Meditation Cult, Father Befouled, Encoffination, and alike. Sickrites’ Irreverent Death Megaliths is a majestic and greatly charming opus, one of those albums which will not easily leave your stereo device because it is morbidly attractive and addictive like an ancient book full of nasty fairy tales and dangerous magic formulas.
Words: Marilena Moroni
Bandcamp
Sickrites @ Cryptic Vision Arts Records
1. Pillars Of the Fallen Light 04:07
2. Necrogenesis Void 05:01
3. Dweller Of The Fleshtombs 05:34
4. Deathstorms 04:23
5. The Temple 04:55
6. New World Hosanna 04:22
7. Moloch Ascending 05:38
8. The Rite 03:09
9. Darkness Tremendous 04:52
10. Procession To Belial 05:33