Are you ready for some “hideous rituals of blood and fire”, some music said to appeal to fans of bands such as Godflesh, Einstürzende Neubauten, Throbbing Gristle, Ramleh, Abruptum, Lustmord, Swans and more? Are you sure? The reason I’m double checking is that this double album weighs in at 90-minutes and it will definitely separate the wolves from the sheep. Rot Coven are a duo from Pennsylvania consisting of MZ (is he number 412?) vocals, bass, drums and DD guitars with both contributing to other various sounds, effects and field recordings. The first disc contains the pair’s ‘Phase I’ which was previously self-released via Bandcamp and the second ‘Phase II’ with new up to date material. Featuring components of dark ambient, industrial, death, doom, sludge, noise and some blackness boxes are ticked. Are the marvellously but nonsensically entitled Rot Coven capable of inducing daymares? You better believe it, time to cautiously trespass into their horrific domain.

Phase I material features five tracks and you can get an idea of what to expect from titles such as ‘Blood Pours Out Of The Sun.’ Dark ambience meets throbbing discourse and drone as lengthy numbers are set up sounding like a world slowly disintegrating. Tribal drums beat and the heat mounts, cataclysm and ruin are at the heart of things although the sonic devastation is far from instantaneous. When the full-weight drops in the noise is scathing and mangles all in its wake. Vocals spit in the background but the abrasive sounds of calamity take centre stage. There’s a good mix of the aforementioned group’s pallets here and I am also reminded quite heavily of Khost and perhaps Neurosis at their most antagonistic too. If this track doesn’t have you fleeing for your life then you might just stay the course and witness the decay in slow motion of ‘Feast of the Rotted Mother,’ the crackling and crunching static reminding of the ever encroaching darkness of Stephen King novella The Langoliers turning the world black. At the half-way mark this too turns to the sort of harrowing industrial noise that would even have Whitehouse fans ducking for cover. Turn it up and the neighbours will be seeking out the nearest bomb shelter. The powerful production here, packs a wallop and makes it all the more catastrophic. Cosmic horror is mentioned and forms like alien tendrils on ‘Antimatter Halo.’ One part Darkspace and another Lustmord, this is an atmospheric journey into uncharted alien territory. By the drifting cosmic intrusion of the ‘Queen Of The Void’ all humanity has left the host. Ever seen a dark universe yawning? Well it’s natural that the cosmology of HP Lovecraft will crop up somewhere here (if it is not embedded totally in the narrative). The deliverance in form of final piece of the disc ‘Those Who Worship Fallen Stars’ forms over Gothic tones reminiscent of Fields Of The Nephilim before percussion, dreamy pace, squalling guitar and even some clean vocals take us out for now. The void has yawned but not quite swallowed us whole, take a deep breath as the final flurry of electro distortion unravels and change the disc. It’s like waking up from a nightmare and falling asleep again to pick up where you left off.

Length of songs expanded, Phase II has just three spanning the ¾ of an hour running time, the first ‘Inverted Chasm’ a whopping 20-mins. Thick drum and bass tones slowly penetrate the ribs and growls emerge as Godfleshian chugs provide the backbone with a near dub like ballast. Depressive and bleak guitars take on a somewhat dissonant weave. Black metal is one of the only expected genres not really mentioned on provided blurb but it is present and although only hinted at on the first part there are elements reminiscent of Blut aus Nord and their ilk lurking within this new material. Cold and atmospheric this plays with the listener and never quite explodes like you might anticipate but there are plenty of strange sounds within this place leaving you feeling quite disconcerted. The shorter ‘Psychological Contamination Zone’ similarly plays with your head, a bridge of droning effects to navigate through a discovered and abandoned ship of ghosts floating adrift and deserted in deep space. This is a place of the dead and the prospect of their revival is terrifying as we move to the last epic statement ‘Accretion Disk Necropolis.’ There are faint feminine chants and just as you wonder if the dead will ever dance they are reanimated to lumber and stalk their way through the last vestige of the long night and linger long into your waking world…

Quite the trip and it is well worth pointing out that the double CD is available from the label for the very reasonable price of just £8. As for Rot Coven and the future, there is already a new projected album ‘This Machine Is Bleeding To Death’ imminent on an unspecified label. Hopefully it will find its way to me as this is a nightmare that is not finished with us quite yet!

(8.5/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/RotCoven

https://rusteater.bandcamp.com/album/nightmares-devour-the-waking-world-phase-i-phase-ii

https://www.aestheticdeath.com/releases.php?mode=singleitem&albumid=6475