Fossilization – Advent of Wounds (Dolorous Deathdoom)

 

How many times could the word “visceral” be used to describe death metal (of any form)? Too many, trust me. That’s the go-to descriptive for journos, who at this point talk like AI and probably cut-and-paste a chatbot summary for a review. Certainly ‘visceral’ is effective in describing something with an emotional strength, but why is it always the adjective of choice? It’s rather vague. Bands like Brazil’s Fossilization demand more than mere replication of terms that have become tropes. Perhaps haunting? Perhaps dark, intricate, and raw? None of these capture their sound, and the direction recently taken by bands in the deathdoom category. With their latest full-length, Advent of Wounds, it is best to consider their work dolorous. Now you look that up as I keep writing.

   

This is not a particularly easy album to review. At first listen you might find it sounds rather typical, but Fossilization are masters of details. You’ll quickly realize, amongst all the sweeping riffs and thunderstorm drumming in the harder sections, that there’s a brooding, atmospheric quality to the sound much unlike the chattel typical to death metal. This, in particular, becomes more evident when they slow and enter into a funereal type of doom, yet without the dismal slowness that the funeral genre is known for. Its a perpetual conflict between melody and fury here, yet there’s a perpetual melancholy to the sound in Advent of Wounds that elevates this work above the usual “brutal” we find in the genre. Bloodshed is only so terrifying, more often the dregs of human weakness is far more terrifying. It is instead a sound that’s fragile, yet resonates with a sense of loss. Definitely a challenging listen for the more experienced, and the newcomers in metal should not apply.

 

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Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls

Fossilization – Advent of Wounds
Everlasting Spew Records
Cover Art: Guang Yang
4.3 / 5