Finland’s UNEARTHLY RITES are today premiering their debut album, Ecdysis, in full via Decibel. The death metal band’s cavernously old school approach to the genre on their first full-length sees UNEARTHLY RITES rallying against corporate greed and ecocide. Alongside the album premiere, the band has shared a string of live dates in support of Ecdysis – with more details below.
LISTEN TO ECDYSIS IN FULL VIA DECIBEL HERE.
Ecdysis is available on all streaming this Friday (May 3)
Speaking on the premiere, UNEARTHLY RITES‘ Santtu Markko (guitar) comments: “As the world is burning, prepare to die! Neanderthal riffs and sonic torture from the death metal caves of Finland. We’ll be supporting the album live on the following dates:
3 May – Bar Loose – Helsinki, Finland w/ Pestigore & Aedes.
4 May 4 – Vastavirta Klubi – Tampere, Finland w/ Sonic Poison & Disguised Malignance.
10 May – Nirvana – Turku, Finland w/ Frigid Winter, Below The Graves & Ruuhi.
Formed in 2020 through existing friendships in their native underground extreme metal and punk scenes, UNEARTHLY RITES’ members’ mutual adherence to DIY methods and principles of creativity and community resulted in a self-titled EP in 2021. As with their preceding release, Ecdysis once again saw the band record to tape with drummer Tapio Lepistö at the helm of the sessions at Black Floyds Analog Studio between May and September 2022. The ominously stark black and white cover also sees bassist Jennika Vikman once again take on art and logo duties.
At the beating heart of Ecdysis lies UNEARTHLY RITES’ insistence for a better world, with the perilous effects of capitalist interests taking precedence over nature and human life at the core of the group’s concerns. Through their collective work in environmental activism, including anti-mining campaigns in the arctic north, Ecdysis is less a despairing cry as it is a plea for change.
The band’s caustic approach to barbarically punishing death metal adds a feverish urgency to proceedings, with the rhythm section of bassist Vikman and guitarists Simo Perkiömäki and Santtu Markko evoking the genre’s most cavernously brutish traits against Sisli Piisilä’s visceral vocal delivery. Despite their rage and despondency at institutional apathy on the title track and the harrowingly doomy highlight cut Sacrifice Zones, album closer Doomed shuns inaction and resigned complicitly by directly challenging the listener to choose their side for humanity’s sake and future.