Incense of Opened Gates

This strange release comes from a well known personality, Scorpios of Crimson Moon. This one man band project is called Possession Ritual. He created the band in 2006 and he has released a split and “Incense of Opened Gates”, his first full length album. So the album contains five compositions of about forty minutes. The music that Possession Ritual plays is a very strange, dark mixture of ritualistic Doom sound with many fast, dark Black Metal parts.

The fast riffs are dark and maybe they remind older material of Scorpios. The slower parts, which are more frequent, try to create a dark, ritualistic atmosphere, which with the strange, almost dissonant sound of the guitar, they achieve to hypnotize and lure you in your dark, initiation ritual. The tracks are big in duration and maybe the main riffs are quite repeated in the tracks, but the compositions are structured so well, so as not to let you escape. The drums and the bass are played well, fill the tracks very well and the changes that they do, break the monotony. The voice is the same with that we have listened also in Crimson Moon, harsh, typical Black Metal voice which does its job, nothing more. The production is bassy, clean and fits to the compositions’ style. The mix is good in general, although in some parts the massive sound disappears and they are a little empty. The lyrics are written in English and they are dark, ritualistic and είναι σκοτεινοί, τελετουργικοί και blend perfectly with the music.

Generally, I think that the album is quite good. It has its weaknesses but the band’s strong personality makes you not to spot them at all. The album may not be suitable for every taste. I liked it a lot and I would suggest, especially to those who like the ritualistic and a little experimental sound, to buy it or at least to listen to it.