When the flails are set aside and the screaming turns to numbly weeping prayers our adherents lend their flesh to death, leaving their iron cut wounds to rot in the open air. Stinging with the hiss of pain before the bites of flies help to carve claw-like marks, caked with stinking infection and wriggling odorous spume they flex, writhe and wash with salt to break these horrors back open and leave them gouged and gaping as a landscape of scars forms. Hypnotized by their devotion to embrace sin and cut away piety anonymous Scottish morbid-atmospheric death/doom metal quartet Order of Decay task themselves with intoxicating ascetic drones dedicated to pain, a momentary yet unforgettable freedom from the strictures of living flesh. On thier debut full-length the murk is thick, the tones are set low and the mindset completely uninterrupted as their plodding craft finds its corridor in ‘Mortification Rites‘, whipping and growling along the way. From miserable lurking to brazen austerity this impressive debut may be expressly driven on its path, and perhaps escapes a purely standout trait in the process, yet they do ultimately remember to entertain within this finely crafted and sharply curated introduction.

Order of Decay are an anonymous group and the only information given to the general public is the location of the recordings which were split between Edinburgh and Helsinki, the latter likely being for the sake of a session drummer or a Finnish member. It won’t be surprising to hear there is a bit of Suomi action imbued into these rhythms as the gloom-riddled, lurching atmospheric death/doom metal dread which characterizes the band’s style is easily compared to that of Krypts at face value per its many-layered composition with lead guitars generating the main conversation. Much like Void Rot and Ataraxy they’ve leaned into slower or droning mid-paced pieces fixated on their atmospheric effect (see: “Necrotic”) and descending progressions unto surreal and widening resonance alongside brutally swaying motion which fans of Grave Miasma will likewise appreciate (see: “Scent of Flesh“, “Bone Lords”). They never quite reach a point of throttled storming about but that doesn’t keep the album from feeling voluminous and aggressive in its ominous, entombed state. With their work held close to the chest and presented without a face or a notion given there isn’t a lengthy conversation to be had about the work just yet beyond perceived themes of grimdark asceticism, surreal yet severe death metal atmosphere, and maybe a few notes on particularly strong sound design.

Sealed in the dark, growling from within a massive underground tomb ‘Mortification Rites‘ is an exclusively subterranean affair, to the point that we are always a full league (or, generation) buried beyond the Incantation-esque side of atmospheric death metal muse. The general shaping and movement of a piece like “Blood Libation” gives the classicist death metal ear that same effect of pulverization and doomed relief but given to the torsion of inventive riff progressions which depict abysm, a sound I personally associate with ‘Remnants of Expansion‘ but which of course has precedence much earlier than 2016 in other aspects. We could look further back to Swallowed‘s ‘Lunarterial‘ for a more completely entrenched, unique vision of this dark and morbid funereal style but that’d be going too far in the direction of Finland’s bestial avant-garde. Instead Order of Decay present something quite “normal” in terms of its 70% death metal 30% doom metal ratio of riffcraft, only sinking into its grooves for tangent and refrain while limiting their indulgence unto doom per hypnotic and repetitive rhythms which tend to scaffold the lead guitar interest and (again) bears a strong resemblance to aforementioned acts. This is primarily true of the first three pieces on the full listen with “Vows of Death”, “In Thrall to Suffering” and opener “Rotten Souls” likely to win over Finnish death/doom metal heads immediately. That isn’t the whole gig unfurled but likely the strongest “in” for many listeners.

The other side of the band is no less atmospheric but lightly infused with black/death metal of a veering-off, deranged presence as we’ll find on “Scent of Flesh” in particular, a piece which holds fast on the demented hypnose of its faster paced grind but also touches upon dark, foreboding ambiance as it falls off near the end. The effect is not exactly as avant-garde as something like earlier Chaos Echœs but what develops on Side B should touch upon some of the horrified tendencies and foreboding moments we find in the best of cavernous black and death metal. For my own taste “Necrotic” is the peak of this action, a good piece to sum the affect of the band in one grandiose showing but admittedly there isn’t any one given piece here which takes these respective parts and mashes them in a complete way beyond “Bone Lords” coming close at the end. The whole of the experience feels complete as a thought but not necessarily deep or unheard of in the greater death/doom metal spectrum, there aren’t any pieces which don’t belong and as a whole ‘Mortification Rites‘ is entirely professional, thoughtful in its presentation and rich it its sonic depth.

You’ll have to crank this album to hear all of the nuance available as its dynamic presentation calls for low-burning yet reactive sound (by way of Sonorous Studio) which is both cavernous and grounded by deep death metal growls. Placement is fairly straight forward, allowing the double-bass drumming to skirt the edges of space while the rhythm guitar tone and vocals take the central brunt of the action. The rhythm section is surprisingly coherent in feature of a clean and realistic bass guitar sound that hits at chest level with a watery hum that braces the main movement of each piece. The drum presence (per Sonic Pump Studios) in particular is the most difficult part of this style of death metal as it needs to fill the room but not soak itself in a scramble of reverb when the going gets a bit blasted, here the real backbone of the music is an iron furnace, contained but resonating wide with its heated clarity.

The presence of this record reveals itself as a distantly glowing graveyard lamp to start and one in the thick of it an imposing abysmal depth forms, lending well to re-listening and plenty of detail for the invested to sort through; The keenest ears who truly enjoy a room-shaking sound will at least appreciate the subtle placement of keyboards used to gird some of the rhythms… either that or I’ve hallucinated their spikes on “Rotten Souls” and “Scent of Flesh”, but anyhow this is one of the better cases made for paying attention to Order of Decay — no aspect of the songcraft or production values appears flippant and each choice intends a serious best foot forward for the band without any careless half-measures, it is a mature effort with a clear (eh, cryptic) vision. More importantly it successfully creates an atmosphere, an ominous feeling which only becomes more enriching and entertaining as I revisit it. They’ve done fine work on this debut, though it isn’t going to score major points with folks seeking the outrageously avant-garde or purely unknown I’ve found it well worth every moment of fixation I’ve invested. A high recommendation.

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