In dialogue with monuments to the heralded dead that’d shaped the world before us it is natural to begin musing on the value of the less-than heroic death piling all around today, ultimately growing callous toward the purposeless of all-consuming fodder. On their sophomore full-length album Dublin, Ireland-borne death metal trio Vircolac posit if the presently enduring mundanity of human life will ultimately produce any venerable cultural mark beyond perpetuating their own self-assured destruction. Shirking the archetype as a point of purpose yet remaining ancient down to its bones ‘Veneration‘ should ultimately read as a death metal album but an alienage, never ordinary or quickly identifiable within canon as they reinforce their increasingly heady craft with profound measures of traditional sensibilities and forward-reaching ambitions.

Vircolac formed as a quartet back in 2013 releasing two (still) representative demo tapes over the next few years, each setting expectations for a not at all standard form of death metal with a uniquely bounding and hypnotic approach to pacing. The second demo was essentially a promo for their first mLP and, for the sake of not recapping the specifics of their formative discography again, all of their work had been leading up to the surprising realization of their brilliant first full-length: Upon review of their debut LP (‘Masque‘, 2019) I’d been blown away by the morbid, ancient but against the grain style of the band which’d looked far beyond the horizon presented by the aforementioned mLP (‘The Cursed Travails of the Demeter‘, 2016). The stare into the face of death presented would eventually end high up there at #13 on my Top 50 of 2019 thanks to its gnarled, aggressive and nigh technical approach to riffcraft which’d breached the unsure space between 80’s black metal movements and an early 90’s death metal attack. That first album serves as their most aggressive statement to date in terms of sharply angled death metal riffcraft, so, naturally the expectation was that they’d continue down that direct path for album number two for a reinforcing double-tap.

‘Veneration‘ was recorded as a quartet but reduced to a trio soon after, a similar point of breaking they’d likewise reached with the previous album wherein one of the original guitarists left after ‘Masque‘ and here the fellowe who replaced him left the band after performing some guitar and bass on this one. Rather than detail the musical chairs of it beyond that I can at least suggest up front that the album itself hasn’t been compromised in the process of these changes, though there is the sense that their work is restless in pursuit of a style which is at ones not necessarily nostalgic, not at all typical, but also identifiably arcane in its reach for both avant-garde fumes and the enrichment of many eras and canonical spires of heavy music; While ‘Veneration‘ carries much of the style, a kinda rocking rhythmic finesse prone to explore jagged chords and run-on phrases, that’d helped to make ‘Masque‘ a notable event though it arrives with a different sense of fluid meter which ceases to stagger itself with the more technically sharp edge of that prior album. This drastically changes the voice of the band as the chromatic hammering of 90’s death metal is traded for a fusion’d whirring of many engines, a hundred gears turning in crookedly harmonized timing. Getting in touch and tuning into their directive might take some patience but should not ultimately alienate anyone who’d appreciated the (early days) wiles of Tribulation and Venenum while seeking a more organic route to the cloudier steadily steering heights that these blustering rhythms reach for.

My first thought when breaching the funereal harmony of the Sarah McQuillan performed vocal intro and stepping into the dark of the title track (“Veneration”) was that this opening moment and its trundling beat already recalls the avant-garde side of Celtic Frost in the early 90’s specifically the ‘Vanity/Nemesis’ album and its twist upon a thrashing but out-there step, an attempt something a bit different. That isn’t to say that some amount of Venom doesn’t likewise fuel some of these rhythms at a very basal level but that the more important point to make is that Vircolac have done well to leave behind any trace of 90’s death metal for the sake of an amorphously achieved 80’s black, death, and heavy metal rhythm which feels ancient and unpredictable in its stomping fanfare. As we move on through the running order the closest comparison I could think of in recent memory is maybe the freed up sub-genre exposition of records like Crucifyre‘s ‘Post Vulcanic Black‘ but they are ultimately two very different beasts.

Side A generally follows this gallop-and-slide sense of rhythm while creating an effective mirroring of the spacing and general shape of the second half where ~2-3 pieces lead up to one doubly long side-closing song. The venomous gang-shouted “Unrepentant” stands out for its almost Voivod-esque development of tension through simpler grooves while also featuring some prominent variety to the bass guitar tone, growling and thrashing through the song as it finds it late peak. Midrange tempered distortion fizzles and blurs under dissonant clashing dual rhythm guitar movement as we find ourselves sinking into my favorite piece on the album and clear standout “Our Burden of Stone on Bone”, another tormented and complex composition which is deceptively simple in its upward shot narrative cadence, doomed middle interlude, and slashed through progressions. In the past certain songs were cutting threats and brutal showcase of classicist riffcraft intertwined and it seems on this album each song is a walk, a mad fire dance which doesn’t follow any of those rules but also manages bursts of slapping black/death (a la ‘Abominations of Desolation‘) just often enough to feel related to past Vircolac releases.

No great men exist, no great deeds are left to feed the cycle. — The deeper we go the hotter the fire gets as Side B drops us into another one of the more energetic, riff-heavy rides on the full listen with “All Comes to Pass, Nothing Shall Remain” and there we get some of the general theme of the album summed in the title itself as ‘Veneration‘ holistically suggests, at least the way that I’d received it, that past toil of the dead no longer inspires folks who are worthy of the greatness achieved before them; Because so much of this album relies upon seamless movement from piece to piece some decidedly intent listening was needed to ensure all was coherent and the heavy rock sized drum work ultimately acts as the key anchor for the full impression made. This means the step taken from “All Comes to Pass…” through “Reflections” doesn’t leave a moment to separate their actions, leaving the ~37 minute run of the album feeling much shorter than it actually was. The one piece which feels fixative, hammered down and the most like a realization of their theme is arguably the three part closer “She is Calling Me”. Grand as this finale is, the most important observation I could make is some admiration for the way Vircolac continue to introduce new elements (however small) throughout the album.

A well-designed maze of meaning, death worship and heavy rock escalation ‘Veneration‘ is just challenging enough to stick in mind as a sweetly unorthodox death metal record and an unexpected stamp of boldness beyond the still ‘old school’ feeling ebb of their prior full-length. This feels like personae earned, a personal knack explored, and a unique conception which skirts the usual death metal factory fodder for consumption. Though this estranged state of mind expressed throughout the full album won’t appear accessible in any sense to start the full listen will eventually prove itself a charming series of knots for the avid death metal fandom to untie and parse through. Those with an appropriate amount of patience upheld for change shouldn’t feel outright shocked by what Vircolac have managed here on album number two and no doubt any fan of ‘Masque‘ should instantly appreciate this new, unhindered expansion of the band’s sound. I was hesitant to start but after twenty or so jogs through ‘Veneration‘ ultimately won me over. A high recommendation.

https://darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/veneration

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