The second Autumn’s plague-ridden breath blew in, the trees clenched their roots, shook and shed their leaves along with an absolute stack of doom death albums. Yep it is the traditional time of year for a multitude of acts to get all slow and dismal on us. One that was almost buried in the avalanche are Pulchra Morte from the USA who had until now released debut album Divina Autem et Aniles in 2019 which seems to have passed us by. Perhaps it shouldn’t have done because apart from favouring Latin titles this group consists of members of acts such as Skeletonwitch, Wolvhammer and Eulogy among many others. The thing that really stands out on paper and should make this different though is the inclusion of their ‘Serpent’s Choir.’ This is a similar idea of what I encountered recently with atmospheric Doom band Tomorrow’s Rain album, where the Israeli act gathered many of their friends and peers together to perform guest parts on their album. This certainly attracts fans to hear the music but it can overshadow the actual substance of it as when considering such a guest-list naturally you are going to expect great things. What a cast-list this is too as joining the 5 players themselves are no less than (quick count up) somewhere in the region of 57 members of this nest of snakes. Obviously, I am not listing them all but among them we have members of 1349, Immolation, GWAR, Mondo Generator, Uada, Exhorder, Black Tusk, Nocturnus AD and even Rob The Baron Miller of Tau Cross. It’s a wet dream of a list and then some!
So, as the album starts one does expect great things but as far as the choir is concerned you would be a better person than me to ring in the results and say who is involved where as it is a nigh impossible task unless the information is written right next to you. ‘The Serpent’s Choir’ is indeed the first track title and rumbles in with heft and gruff weather-barked vocals which along with some higher snarly tones mark the main vocal contributions on the album and I assume some of these are contributed by new vocalist Adam Clemens who does an admirable job in his own right. Musically this has heft and weight as it pounds away with some doomy tones that are reminiscent of early Paradise Lost as much as anyone. Personally, I wonder where these accompanying vocals are as they seem understated considering how many there are and find it much easier to simply give up on this and concentrate on the music as a whole without being distracted. One thing the band do not make a mistake of is weighing things down with the songs themselves which are kept to typically under the 5-minute mark and offer a bit of variation among them over the succinct 41-minute running time. The snappy likes of ‘Fires Of Coil’ are jagged and precise, slow and lumbering attacks the snarling vocals and some guitar leads getting under the skin. Clayton Gore’s pounding work may well be slow but it is particularly powerful holding things together and there is a bit of a mystical and ethnic twist to the melodies within. I did scratch my head a little on ‘Scratch Of The Will’ as whoever provides the clean vocals on it gave it a bit of a Fear Factory flavour although that’s certainly not replicated musically and the primitive thump it devolves into is reminiscent of GWAR although that might be simply as their name has cropped up courtesy of Kim Dylla buried somewhere amidst it all.
Some may find it a little on the brutal side and the deathly parts of a song such as ‘In the Mourning Light’ are definitely gravid and growly. However long flowing leads are never far away and the guitar work on ‘Prince Among Shadows’ draws you in as interspersed with more rugged gravitas and even some acoustic fretwork and some subtle cello included. There are definitely parts that you are in danger of blinking and missing here unless you concentrate and a lot of subtle parts such as some faint feminine charm from Eulogy’s Heather Dykestra amidst the weeping guitars of ‘The Archer And The Noose.’
It’s taken a lot of spins of ‘Ex Rosa Ceremonia’ for it to really make anything of a mark though and despite all the ‘bells and whistles’ that it comes littered down with I have to wonder if there is anything really about it making it anything more than a proficient and somewhat workmanlike doom death album. Sure, it has grown on me but the preconceptions of what were expected have perhaps not done it any favours here leaving me slightly under-awed. That’s no reason to dismiss it though in the slightest and those lovers of the earlier days of Northern England’s doom-death triumvirate should certainly check this out. Perhaps the band should concentrate on their own strengths in the future though so listener’s can get a true idea of capabilities which are obviously strong, without being quite so side-tracked.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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