Whenever I talk about the very floor of the underground which I am wont to do on a surprisingly consistent basis, there’s always a very specific image that I mean whenever I say that. Imagine a rotting log in the midst of a damp, suffocating forest that’s crawling with all sorts of parasites layered on top of each other in an almost agreed-upon system such that everyone has their own place in the cog of decomposition with the deeper you go the nastier visages we’re able to witness. The world of metal is no different as it’s the further you go that you continuously find acts that are all but repulsive yet fascinating right to the very end with the very best holding our attention right from the onset. One of the best bastions of such comes from the label Sentient Ruin Laboratories, and it’s one of their most recent releases, the newest from Vile Ritual, that their trend of underground domination is all but furthered.

There are just some records that seem to embody everything great about what all the underground has to offer despite the odds no matter how new the band may be or how vicious their particular approach may be when compared to many of the contemporary acts we find ourselves facing on a daily basis. It’s possible the only factor that could’ve made the newest effort from Vile Ritual a creation even more fitting for its habitat of pure darkness would be if “Tongues of the Exanimate” would be a demo which would be all but effortless at creating a true underground experience that’s the very definition of visceral to its core. Even with that, though, it is quite literally every given aspect of these six tracks that shows to us Vile Ritual isn’t just another name to be lost in the underground catacombs with its innumerous branching paths, but a real force to be reckoned with as this is just the second piece of material that we’ve seen from this band to date yet it’s anything but lacking. It could be seen as a drawback that it’s only the first half of “Tongues of the Exanimate” in which we can see new material from Vile Ritual, but it’s with a fresh coating of grime and slime that accentuates the very power that’s absolutely leaking from between the very notes of the record where we can really see what Vile Ritual is made of in every instance that they have the stage for themselves with it being no stretch of any kind to say that their craft is all but wholly dominating.

Culminating in a performance that’s all-consuming of even the very light that dares to worm its way into the deepest halls in which acts like Vile Ritual are constantly spawning forth from, there’s no way to deny or ignore the raw chaos that Vile Ritual manages to mold into a compelling listen no matter what angle you’re looking at it from. “Tongues of the Exanimate” is just the very beginning for what Vile Ritual is capable of, and I can only hope the underground won’t hold their secrets from us for much longer.

LISTEN to “Tongues of the Exanimate” on Bandcamp here.