Basalt Shrine unveils its first album.
Formed in the Philippines, the band is composed of Rallye Ibanez (bass/vocals, Surrogate Prey, Religious Nightmare), Bobby Legaspi (guitar/vocals, Surrogate Prey, Malicious Birth), Ronnel Vivo (guitar, Dagtum, ex-Hateure) and Ronaldo Vivo (drums, Dagtum, ex-Hateure) for the release of From Fiery Tongues.
The album begins with the very ambient and mystical Thawed Slag Blood which slowly fills the air with mysterious sounds, then a few words tirelessly repeated. Vocals drive us into In The Dirt’s Embrace’s heavy and weighing rhythmic which fully exploits the oppression of Sludge and the haunting sounds of Doom while offering visceral screams. The abrasive and very regular mix progresses with a bang, slaughtering its dissonance on everything moving and sometimes changing pattern to offer us more airy parts, like this clean sounding break, then Adorned For Loathing Pigs will come back to oppressive sounds and to aggressive distortion topped by the vocalist’s unhealthy screams. We will also find some heady leads which are perfectly grafted with the distant choirs and the repetitive slowness before the song becomes more aggressive with jerky elements which will give way to From Fiery Tongues and its hypnotic tones to peacefully settle. But the quietness won’t last, and it invites a dark voice to join it while adorning itself with dissonant sounds, jerky patterns and unexpected elements while letting howlings haunt us. The end of the album gradually takes shape with The Barren Aftermath, an instrumental composition which borrows from the roots of Doom but also from Stoner for a kind of mysterious peace with ritualistic accents to close the doors of this soaring universe.
Sometimes haunting and sometimes surprising, the world of Basalt Shrine is made of grimy sounds, slowness and dissonance. From Fiery Tongues will bury you under its heaviness, scare you with its screams, then embrace you with its softness while moving forward.
80/100