Album Review: Fossilization – He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten [EP]

With a lineup composed of two members of Brazilian sludge/doom/death behemoth JUPITERIAN, namely vocalist/instrumentalist V., and P. on the drums. Now, I’ve recently gone on record with my opinion (aka The Whole Of The Law, Handed Down From The Mountain, Writ On Stone By Lightning) on members of one band forming a “side project” that basically mirrors the other (aka Thou Shalt Not), so I won’t bore you again – at least for now.

Blessedly, FOSSILIZATION is noticeably different on its face than its members other effort, being more death than doom in overall scope, while still retaining a bit of what makes doom DOOM. ‘Neanderthal Tombs’ wanders, seemingly never finding what it seeks until nearly the halfway mark, but instead of being bothersome, this pulls the listener in, wondering where things might be heading. NIHILIST demos, early DISMEMBER are reference points when the death switch is flipped, but the chaotic flailing and low-end stench coughed up from the South American continent is still very, very present.

Dirge-like, ‘Caronte’ mourns when slow, moments of blasting breaking up what would otherwise have been more at home under the JUPITERIAN banner, while ‘He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten’ is the reverse, absolutely ravaging in performance, drummer P. the focal point as V. builds a mausoleum around the corpse of decaying mankind, impregnable by sun, by smiles, by joyful remembrances.

Overall, the feeling is of transition, of a subterranean journey through unlit spaces, dank and dripping. As a starting point, I’m along for the procession of demise, but I’d like to hear what FOSSILIZATION would do with a full-length before committing.
Review By: Lord Randall

FOSSILIZATION
He Whose Name Was Long Forgotten [EP]
Everlasting Spew Records
3 / 6