Giving rest to auld daemonic husks with altar-burning rites of severed possession the pitch black sepulchral hypnose shared between Marburg, Germany-based blackened death/doom quartet NEKUS and Zarazoga, Spain-based death/doom metal trio BLOODSOAKED NECROVOID reaches a point of explosive furor in the span of this above-average split album. ‘Funerary Rites of Ancient Doom‘ offers an exceptional pairing between these two bands outright, fine curation in all counts, but does so with each band bringing substantive works to their halves. There are too few split records I could so readily endorse on both sides these days but here there’d been no getting around the carbonized surrealism which radiates throughout these complimentary yet distinct works.

When they’d introduced themselves back in 2020 Nekus‘ offered a blackened, bestial death abyss which I’d viewed as a shard off of (underrated) related band Into Coffin (see also: Barbaric Oath, Putridarium, Seltsame Erden, et al.) but obviously carrying different execution, sound design and intent. With their lineup shifting between each of their two full-lengths beyond that point their approach took on a style of expansive, cacophonic horror a la Grave Upheaval (and certain Abyssal releases) often using dissonance and discordant framing for their nauseated frontage. The sole ~19 minute song which comprises Side A, “Dakhma”, essentially extends the features found on 2024’s ‘Death Apophenia‘ unto a spiraling series of movements which grow more doomed and disoriented in succession.

Monastic chants, snarling rasps and a massive central growl enrich these trampling and sludging movements as “Dakhma” intensifies, flitting between vocal expression in abstractly structured utterance all the while. As motif develops and mutates throughout the piece the number of modulations available to one or two core riff progressions impresses, taking a set of fairly simple patterns and juicing them into one great glom of chasmic radiation ensures the song builds psychic recall rather than randomized gusting. I’ll admit I wasn’t necessarily expecting anything shocking from Nekus on ‘Funerary Rites of Ancient Doom‘ but their treatment of this particular longform song points to some manner of mastery, now or on their horizon.

Costa Rica-borne and now northeastern Spain bound crew Bloodsoaked Necrovoid are among the best death/doom metal bands active in the last half-decade or so. I’ve written extensively about their demo era as well as the masterful debut LP ‘Expelled into the Unknown Depths of the Unfathomable‘ they’d released back in 2020 where sublimely dark sound design and a focus upon the riff yielded a #4 spot on my Top 100 Albums of the Year. Beyond that point they’d released a few splits (Astriferous, Defunto) before guitarist/vocalist Federico Gutiérrez emigrated in 2023, eventually linking up with folks from Sanctuarium and also joining the now defunct Trollcave. Beyond that point we’d gotten a rehearsal captured EP (‘Bloodsoaked Necrovoid‘, 2026) back in April of this year, signaling similarly lingering tension and raw atmospheric dread as their debut. For their three song run on Side B focus more squarely on the riff while keeping scorched and smoking atmosphere at the core of their signature.

“The Unreachable Exaltation of Consumption” carries the near-collapse tension of extreme doom up front, chunking slow and unsteady through echoic guitar exchanges ’til Bloodsoaked Necrovoid‘s brief bestial death summoning hits around ~3:19 minutes in, feeding all of the song’s density into its tail end. It makes a bit more sense why they’d pair up with Nekus at that exact point, the two bands offer complimentarily ominous dementia in their wares while sounding entirely different; While the first song is stellar in its reveal the follow-up/closer “A Respite From the Swallowing of Existence” beyond is more clearly trenched within true doom metal derived rhythms, letting riffs hang in the air rather than force movement. If the band’s most recent EP appeared to focus on atmosphere then you might find more riffs and rhythmic knack here, though the sound design isn’t exactly void of its own rumbling horrors.

The high standard of quality found within ‘Funerary Rites of Ancient Doom‘ is no great surprise with consideration for the bands involved (and the fine album art via MFAXII) but I wasn’t fully expecting Nekus and Bloodsoaked Necrovoid to compliment one-another within substantial works. Not all splits are created equal, much less the pairings they serve, but this one feels like a well-curated proper album experience and not just a filthy inbetweener. I’d depart from the experience wholly reinforced as a fan of the latter and all the more inspired by the former’s potential expansion within longform pieces. A high recommendation.

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