Abyssal Rift - Extirpation Dirge
USA
Sentient Ruin Laboratories
The cover art (by Jesse Nihil) beguiles and perfectly complements the music therein; a charred blackened being emerging from the darkness with vengeance in its eyes and an open mouth dribbling with hatred and curses.
“Extirpation Dirge” is a musical journey for falling into a hole in the ground; careening through a winding network of tunnels before you are released into the Abyss. As you fall freely you feel the hands of the damned reaching out to touch and grab you, the weeping choir resounding. You hear, from beneath, the echoing roar of the beast which signifies your impending end……wwwwuuuuuurrrrggghhhhhh!!!!!
Helmed by multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Max Auxier with drums by David Mahoney and mixing/mastering from Will Killingsworth, Abyssal Rift’s innovation is to seamlessly fuse cavernous pounding black/death with death doom and progressive/space rock plus a sprinkling of post-metal. Reads like a confused musical clusterfuck but I assure you it is not (also assure you that I am not confused hahah); I marvel at how many musical styles I am experiencing almost simultaneously, while nonetheless encountering the same dark being as depicted on the cover art.
This journey is six tracks long with a running time of less than 37 mins; it twists & turns, pummels, and pulls you apart, leaving you broken and bloodied, wanting to get back on that rollercoaster to Hell…………a must! (Unkle Superion)