RIGOR SARDONICOUS
RIGOR SARDONICOUS “Praeparet Bellum”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Talk about rising from the grave! It’s been a dog’s age since I’ve clapped ears on new music from RIGOR SARDONICOUS, the slowest of the slow, the utter definition of hopeless morbid DOOM! There is really no band in the world like these guys, who manage to make THERGOTHON and SKEPTICISM sound cheerful and peppy. But it’s been so long...is this really the RIGOR SARDONICOUS that we all remember?
All that and then some! All components of the band are present on “Praeparet Bellum”...the Latin song-titles, the ultra-heavy molasses-like riffs that crawl like something that’s dying, the pitch-shifted stretched out growls of Joseph Fogarozzo, the robotic drum machine that beats that sound inhuman because, well, they are. With the crushing blow of first track “Caelum Ardere Vidistis”, we are firmly back in the wretched domain of RIGOR SARDONICOUS...and I couldn’t be happier! Even those bone-jarring cymbal clashes from the drum machine are back to test your nerves. This is the very definition of funeral doom metal.
The first couple of tracks are fairly short...those are just to get us in the mood for when the longer, more torturous tunes like “Vita Cantus” and “Voluntatem Dei” kick in. This is beyond the usual definition of “heavy”...it’s like being slowly engulfed in a tsunami of concrete. The monster vocals, the robot beats, the blown-out bass...all part of the RIGOR SARDONCOUS torture test.
Yeah, they are back in business...the business of killing all hope and light. Prepare yourself…