Vile Rites - The Ageless EP

Dusk falls upon the windswept peaks.

(Originally submitted to the Metal Archives on February 13th 2022)

It would seem that 2022 has started off with quite a few progressive death metal releases. First it was Voidceremony’s demo, and now we have Vile Rites’ debut EP, The Ageless. These (seemingly) young Californians are relatively fresh in terms of their presence within the metal scene, but the music presented here indicates otherwise. This is more reminiscent of something veteran musicians would put out rather than newcomers, making this release all the more interesting.
Following a very brief (and redundant) intro, Vile Rites swing at the listener with the title track of this release, which contains everything we’ll be seeing throughout this release. Angular and occasionally discordant riffs, intense drumming, adventurous basslines, with tastefully melodic solos being the cherry on top. Though it is a very dense and technical release, it is by no means lacking in the riffing department, and contains some traditionally crushing death metal riffing, as seen on “By Virtue of Chaos”, which is chock full of headbangable moments. As for the leadwork, it’s quite pleasing to the ear, with Alex Miletich’s guitar acrobatics avoiding turning into soulless wankery, all while retaining their technicality, as seen on the closer, “Spectre of Forgotten Light”. It’s a very tight performance and it’s stuff like this that makes me enjoy solos in metal more and more these days.
The true highlight of this release though is the drum and bass work, performed by Aerin Johnson and Stephen Coon respectively. Both of them inject a load of variety to this release, and had their performances been more restrained, this EP would’ve been much more boring. Johnson’s playing is quite fill happy, spicing up the rhythmic section while at the same time keeping the rest of the band together. As for Coon’s bass, it doesn’t just play second fiddle to the guitars, and goes off on its own tangents, without feeling disconnected from the rest of the music. Its presence on the songs cannot be understated, and it’s another important piece to the puzzle that is The Ageless.
As for the production, it fits this release like a glove. It leans a bit harder on the grime and reverb than Voidceremony’s demo, and at the same time manages to not hide any of the details presented here. The guitars have a sharp and crunchy tone, which really helps bring the most out of the leads, the drums are snappy, and the bass’ rumbling can be felt at all times. All that is supported by an organic mix that doesn’t feel particularly processed, but at the same time is well balanced, letting all the instruments shine through whenever they have to.
As a whole, I really don’t have much to complain about when it comes to The Ageless. Sure, it has a redundant ambient intro, and “Laid Across the Altars of Time” doesn’t stand out when compared to the rest of the tracklist, but outside of those two minor issues it’s near-perfect. It’s yet another example of progressive death metal that doesn’t turn into an unfocused hodgepodge of ideas with zero flow between them. I’m honestly quite impressed with the compositional skill and technical proficiency exhibited by Vile Rites, and I am undoubtedly looking forward to seeing more from them in the future.
Highlights: The Ageless, Spectre of Forgotten Light

Rating: 91% 

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