The debut full-length album from Pittsburgh’s RITUAL MASS is more than a collection of songs, it’s a series of calculated assaults on the virtue of the holy. Evolving beyond earlier EP and demo releases, “Cascading Misery,” encapsulates the bludgeoning infliction of pain and the slow peel of skin by flame, rife with both sonic chaos and extinguished hope. By the time the epic 14-minute album closer dissipates, RITUAL MASS have dragged you into a world where suffering is not an end but a condition of existence. “Cascading Misery” is music for the dissolution of hope, the terror of being, and the long march toward death.

The album has six songs, and “Obsidian Mirror” is first. Harrowing, electronic sounds come out first, and they are very tense. What follows is a thick, frightening mass of music. Guttural vocals lead the charge, and there is almost no melody, save for what drives the evil. “Immeasurable Hell” is another thick bucket of stew, where it takes a while for the various ingredients to come together. The vocals are absolutely harrowing, and the music is cold, and deadly. There are also more than enough pig squeals to go around. “Looming Shapeless” has a lot of chaos in between the heaviness, and forges forward with a full head of steam, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake. It reaches a slower point, where the weight can be felt in your bones, and your skull crushed.

The title track is another horrid offering that goes straight for the throat. It has a deep, cavernous sound, as if something in the deep recesses of the ocean has decided to make an appearance on the surface. “Frozen Marrow” is another deep belch of Death Metal, and thick, meaty bass notes reverberate in your soul. Guttural vocal screams sound like they come from a creature in the shadows. “Disquiet” is the final offering, and it reeks of darkness, of swaps, and of death itself. Although the album was mostly within the Death Metal genre for me, there were some Black Metal elements present as well. I found the album to be exactly as advertised…a slow march towards death, and the filthy production contributed to this feeling.