Darkness has long been a key theme in many works of extreme metal ever since the sound first came about, but there is nothing that can compare to when a band fully submerges itself in that madness and comes out on the other side armed to the teeth to demonstrate the most gripping of terror upon the listener. Many have tried their hand at doing so with few as successful as the dank halls of death-doom when it takes on some of its nastiest iterations, but even then such instances are few and far between when things are taken to the next level. Taking much of the experience that they’ve earned in other lauded acts, it’s in this debut that Ritual Ascension delivers what madness few others can.

In the pitch-black insanity where all light is consumed instantly and there’s naught to survive on but the most primal of instincts, it can be quite difficult for even the most adept of bands to find a path through the bleak nothingness and find a path to victory even if it means the destruction of everything left behind them. Such fear and desperation of the soul is something that many seek to bring to the table, yet it’s only with bands like Ritual Ascension whose terror is truly palpable can we see it brought to fruition in such a form that feels compelling, authentic, and downright invigorating to gaze upon for all that it dares to summon from the darkest reaches of the human imagination. “Profanation of the Adamic Covenant” holds nothing back in its imagination nor its aural offensives. A sinister patience is what enables this work to become a real slow burner of intensity that death-doom takes on in its finest moments with all the bursts of ferocity and umbral chaos that one could ask for, Ritual Ascension clearly knew what they were doing along every step of the crafting of this immense slab of mind-breaking creation. It’s throughout the absolute entirety of “Profanation of the Adamic Covenant” that we bear witness to a suffocating intensity that holds nothing back in its riffage, overwhelming pressure, and outright carnivorous attitude that demands the listener give the work the utmost respect and caution lest Ritual Ascension claim your soul without even realizing it, leaving you barely a husk of a human, thrall to their dark will.

This is the kind of unfettered madness death-doom was always destined to become in its most depraved state, yet such grand instances of works like “Profanation of the Adamic Covenant” do not come around often to make the arrival of such efforts a clear sign of occult magnificence in a band. With this being but the debut of Ritual Ascension, it goes without saying that such glory has been delivered in spades within the whole of this creation. The pedigree of the band’s members speaks for itself at practically every given turn without exception with the sheer magnitude of the record something that demands to be respected and feared in equal doses.

“Profanation of the Adamic Covenant” releases on February 28th via Sentient Ruin Laboratories!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Profanation of the Adamic Covenant” on Bandcamp here, or via YouTube below.