Review by Nathan on April 18, 2020.

I stumbled upon these guys through their association with Vimur, who are a nice little Georgian black metal band I've gotten myself acquainted with lately. I was also intrigued by the association with Cauldron Born, given the rabid cult following that band seems to have behind it. I guess mostly I’m just starting to become increasingly fascinated with everything that Charles Southern plays on, because he’s got a great ear for riffs and he maintains this certain sort of stylistic precision while he’s playing in each band - I couldn’t necessarily tell you that Vimur and Sadistic Ritual have the same guy behind them, but both of them have a quality to their riffs where they’re more enthralling than they should be, especially given how ordinary they seem on the surface.

I can tell there’s something special going on in Visionaire of Death because, well, I like it! I don’t listen to a lot of thrash, but to be fair if I was going to throw it on, this is the kind of stuff I would probably reach for - the merciless, brutal pounding that mixes a thrashing sharpness with a thick, death metal intensity a'la Demolition Hammer, with some Dark Angel overtones reimagined with a new-school production style on top. The riffs effortlessly slide their way into your brain, cutting through clear as day, with a healthy, surprisingly non-gritty bass presence and some modern extreme metal-informed drumming from Joe Sweat (sick fucking name by the way, dude). Just because you’re primarily inspired by thrash bands from the late 80s and early 90s doesn’t mean you can’t throw in the occasional modern blast to spice things up a bit, and Sweat makes sure to deliver on this front, which helps this album holds its own in a world where there’s things that are leagues more intense than thrash metal. You can no longer have a few Slayer worship riffs and some fast parts and automatically be considered “extreme metal”, so I think it’s important for thrash to utilize some modern influences in order to stay relevant, which I think the drumming and production are more than able to provide. 'Executioner' is a thrash song that probably wouldn’t have existed in the form it does in 1991, but oh boy am I sure glad it does now.

This also lacks the sloppiness and crude delivery that turns me off some strains of thrash - in order for the riffs to hit me properly, I need them to be cutting and precise, and fat has been trimmed quite well from Visionaire of Death. The mastering job is super clinical with no extra trailing notes left in the mix, and I’d be very surprised if the drummer didn’t rigidly adhere to a click track when recording these because he has a near robotic sense of timing (in a good way). It can be easy for riffs in this genre to get stale, and Sadistic Ritual doesn’t really diverge much from their formula of ripping, heavy thrash and stomping mosh verses with an extra bit of bite, but it’s explosive and punishing enough to make up for any lack of originality. The vocals have a nice, hissing rasp with maybe a bit of hidden black metal influence - again we see Sadistic Ritual informing themselves with modern aesthetics. For all I know this is just another generic entry in a style I’m unfamiliar with, but Visionaire of Death scratches the itch I do have for this stuff when I’m in the mood. Charles Southern may be something of an underrated up-and-comer in the metal scene you might need to watch out for in the next few years. Sadistic Ritual is absolutely nothing new, but it’s reimagined with enough enthusiasm to reinvigorate the style.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10

Review by Death8699 on May 30, 2019.

These Swedish natives have been existence since 2008 and this is their first full-length death/doom metal release. The lineup here is as such: Niclas Ankarbranth on vocals, Wilhelm Lindh on guitars, Francisco Martin on bass, and Juan Pablo Donoso on drums. The main beef that I have with the release is the production quality, but this is the band's first full-length effort and I think that they did a good job in the songwriting department, though it took repeated listens to in order to get into the music. Some Opeth influence here on the guitars.

The music isn't blindingly fast, but there are some tracks that are pretty memorable. The tempos to the them are moderate and I'd consider the band to be more of a doom metal act than a death metal one. The leads are fantastic, and Wilhelm can really shred. His writing on the guitars riff wise feature complex overtures with palm muted outputs mixing in some clean tone guitar with it. I think that the vocals ruin the guitar though because Niclas can't really sing too well. His vocals range from low burly segments mixed in with screaming outputs.

I really dug the music despite the vocals however. The band needs to get someone that can augment their melodic sound to better fit the music. Niclas just needs to have better vocal segments than anything else. The guitar riffs were interesting and moderately tempo based. There aren't any songs on here that were fast and furious. They were mostly slow paced and fit the doom metal genre more so than the death metal one. The vocals make the band into being a dual genre act.

The production was decent, though the snare drum sounded flat. That's the only negative really to say about the album in this department. The guitars featuring the clean tone, heavy distortion and bass were all mixed into this release pretty well. The vocals suited the music, but I just couldn't get into Niclas's voice. It could be that it's because I'm not a huge fan of doom metal. It pretty much bores me. The guitar melodies make up for the boredom that I experienced listening to this album.

I wouldn't say to run right out and purchase this release ASAP and before you make any kind of conclusion as to whether or not you like the band just give it a listen. I think that they're decent like Moonspell just not as much quality as that band. The melodies were amazing though. Wilhelm really put forth rock solid guitar work both on the rhythms and leads. I think that because of his efforts it got me more into the band on a whole scale. If you want decent death/doom metal, this album does cut it.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10