Casket Robbery lays waste to the notion of surety on Rituals Of Death.

From the mysterious northern region of Madison, Wisconsin comes Casket Robbery, a death metal band with no interest in the calm or the quiet. Since about 2010 they have been playing brutal death metal, releasing a number of EPs and their inaugural long-player, Evolution of Evil (2016). Their music is characterized, especially on the new record, by speed and ordered destruction. The band is Megan Orvold-Scheider (vocals), Cory Scheider (guitars), Troy Powell (guitars), Bryan Bykowski (bass), and Erik Schultek (drums).

It all begins with “Worm Food,” a pulsing rampage that has menacingly stable through lines. The death metal is brutal and crushing, but there is also detectible groove in there, and surprising kernels of rational reference in the swirling chaos. “Don’t Forget The Eyes” has an extremely creepy half-melody that peeks in and out, the music otherwise being propelled all the while by the relentless rhythm section. “Death’s Dance” has the persistence of a mechanical meat tenderizer operated in the hearing of a 1920s silent horror movie soundtrack. It is an inventive amalgam.

This music is different than anything else I have heard this year. It has the brutal beat and the killer vocals, and what it does more than that is a patient construction and further detailing that enhance the compositions. You won’t find this in other bands. “Beautiful Death” might be my favorite song on the album because it does all the things I have been talking about with an extra kick and a tight pinch. Fantastic. “The Hidden…The Hideous” is the most disturbing (to me, anyway, for some reason), and the closer, “Return To The Sky,” leaves a crater where it lands. Highly recommended.

Rituals Of Death is out through Blood Blast Distribution on Friday, November 11^th. Head to the Bandcamp page for the digital.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://casketrobbery.bandcamp.com/album/rituals-of-death

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/casketrobbery

Blood Blast Distribution, https://www.bloodblast.com/

© Wayne Edwards