Death metal outfit Consummation, with members of Impetuous Ritual, has avoided the spotlight in the effort to top their 2012 demo. Now reappearing with a release, a two-track EP entitled Ritual Severance, Consummation proves to be a staple in the making. Not just for Australia’s death metal scene but internationally as well. Two tracks make seem weak to some, yet both standing at 10 minutes, Consummation fills enough riffs and dynamic to make up for it.
A battle horn blares at the start, declaring the fall of light and hope. A mere second later, blast beats and twin guitars pushing with all the force of death metal breaks through into your mind, consuming every corner and memory to leave you stunned in the gulf of The Weightless Grip of Fire. As the fire feeds, layering and progressing to sustain the onslaught– moving between technical shredding and harsh dissonant riffage –Consummation leaves no time to catch a breath.
After a swift drum roll, they launch into a melody triumphant and dark, and all too familiar for Gojira fans. The Weightless Grip of Fire ends by transitioning the melodies and progression from death metal to orchestral; the band drops away for organs, strings, and horns to continue, and then abruptly stops for the arrival of rain and thunder, leaving you to finally breathe.
Second track, Blighted Ovum, reveals Consummation’s penchant to utilise both doom and death metal to their advantage. While the intro slowly builds more sickening – the riff heaving with doom while a lead guitar wails demonically – the track transitions into a direction moving between massive doom tri-tone riffs to trilling black metal shredding, occasionally distorting time to twist the knife.
Consummation’s debut is well-paced and powerful, articulating their vision with assumed clarity. They displayed an understanding of what makes both doom and death metal so inviting and awesome, and in such besieging delivery that one can only hope the members of Impetuous Ritual present find a way to continue working with Consummation.
