The Ageless - Vile Rites (Review)

Okay okay! I might be a bit late since this EP passed under my radar, but I didn't want to miss this. California based Death Metal outfit Vile Rites features members of Vektor and Trecelence. I was particularly excited to see what these progressive metal musicians bring new to the table with their debut EP "The Ageless".

The opening track "Susurrus Balfourianae" starts itself with an alienated outer-world spacey soundscape, which bleeds into "The Ageless". Beginning with old-school death metal styled riffs, this track embodies the style of Morbid Angel. Midway features a clean section on guitar with jazzy fills on drums, flowing again into the sheer madness of riffs and grooves. Almost a 7 min song, this one has many headbanging riffery and grows on you with each second. "Laid across the altars of Time" is high-paced showing grooviness with double bass on drums. The track has many caveman style riffs, somewhat reminding you of Hath and Opeth. There's also a melodic guitar solo to catch your attention at the outro. "By Virtue of Chaos" showcases many technical riffs of modern metal, filled with many dissonant based wacky guitar sections in the later portions. The outro track "Spectre of Forgotten Light" begins with a melodious clean intro with sick basslines on top. Again showcasing a hybrid mixture of technical and caveman style riffs, the song ends itself with the same spacey soundscape, the way it began in the first place.

While being old-school death metallers to its core, the boys don't fear to showcase their chops for more pregressive and technical songwriting, in an interconnected way. With tracks ranging from 5 to 7 mins, the entire runtime of the album provides a pleasurable experience of listening and transports you to the 90s era of Death, Cynic and Atheist. All we can do is wait for what these boys drop next for us!

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Website: https://www.facebook.com/VileRites/

Genre: Progressive Death Metal

Worldwide Release: January 25th, 2022.