Ravenous Death is a death metal band from Mexico that has recently released their first full length album, Chapters of an Evil Transition. I believe this band has a good grasp of their vision for themselves because of the conciseness of this album. The first half of the album feels like a warm up compared to the other, which is where I believe some of the best tracks are at. There were lots of great moments in this album that I wasn’t expecting which made listening to this much more exciting.
We’re met with “Prelude to Evilness” right off the bat, which has a theatrical aura that’s almost Alice Cooper-like with some black metal elements, before delivering us the punch of “Doomed to Exist.” Full speed ahead, “Doomed to Exist” had a great switch-up halfway in that instantly grabbed me. There were other moments like this on the album that made me excited to listen to each track. “Evil Dementia” featured a good mix-up of different melody and tempo changes back and forth. I liked how there was a moment where the guitar stood alone to break from the thrashy drums and growling vocals. Flowing into “Awakening of the Damned”, this will feature the most evil guitar bits on the album near the end. If you’re into different guitar arrangements and chord progressions with the same notes, you’ll really like this.
“Cursed Origin” had a unique beginning I loved the arrangement of. The breakdown was equally unique and the song had numerous well written guitar moments, especially in the solo. “Initiation Ritual” presents great, driving riffs and some great song writing. There were lots of different musical elements they tried that worked really well. There were some parts that perfectly mismatched and created order that brought a unique aesthetic to the album. “The Sinister Being” had a really cool black/doom metal fused with a haunting Jimi Hendrix vibe intro. I liked the rhythm of the drums in the pre-verse and there were lots of shining moments in this song too of the guitarist’s musicianship.
This band is staying on my radar for now, and look forward to their future releases! If I could say this album was missing anything, I would include different vocals together, especially to help tap into theatrical elements from the first track. My personal favorites on COAET were “Cursed Origin”, “Doomed to Exist”, and “Initiation Ritual”, and in that order.
Chapters of an Evil Transition is now available on CD and as a digital download.
