Drofnosura celebrates its fifteenth anniversary with a signature.
Signed by Transcending Obscurity Records, the Canadian band composed of W.L.F. (guitar/vocals/keyboards), D.A.S. (drums/vocals/keyboards), and M.A.D. (bass/vocals/keyboards) unveils its second album, Ritual of Split Tongues.
The ceremony begins with Selection of a Corpse, a fairly short track compared to what awaits us, which quickly overwhelms us with thick rhythms punctuated by mysterious vocals, both clear and growling. The keyboards and other harmonics give the song a rather heavy and chaotic tone, which eventually fades away, allowing Kapala Kriya to grant us a moment of respite with a few softer notes, which are gradually corrupted by darkness. Whispers appear and eventually turn into groans as the saturation gains ground, and we finally find ourselves in the midst of a nightmare before everything disappears into nothingness to join The Ritual of Split Tongues, which sets in very slowly. The elements are gradually revealed to present us with this new suffocating and dissonant hell filled with anguished voices, maintaining the unbreathable atmosphere even when silence imposes itself before reviving the noises so that the rhythm ignites, cuts off abruptly, then starts again with a guitar imbroglio towards egeirô. Meaning “to train,” “to raise,” “to erect,” or even “to awaken” in ancient Greek, it invites us to take part in this moment of respite that quietly intensifies, reaching a climax before letting the pressure drop to allow The Well of Seven Heads to create its own and amplify the terror with disconcerting ease. I can only urge you to close your eyes and listen to the track on headphones to fully enjoy the soundscape that the band skillfully weaves like specialists in psychotic crises, orchestrating changes in rhythm and eruptions of heaviness or shouting. Then, with Desounen, the band invites us to its voodoo funeral ritual, where melancholy plays an important role, counterbalanced by the noisy approach in the background, which ultimately combine to tinge the soundscape with a strange, almost soothing veil, while the band pours out its oppression until the very last moment.
The Drofnosura experience is definitely out of the ordinary. Although rooted in dark and sticky sludge, Ritual of Split Tongues draws on disturbing influences to create a truly strange tableau fueled by unease that transports us to the brink of schizophrenia.
85/100
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