BASILICA hailing from Boone/Asheville, North Carolina was formed in 2016. They are a Sludge Metal and Metalcore band. BASILICA released two EPs so far and "Basilica" is their debut full-length album. It was released via US label Innerstrength Records which is specialized in Hardcore, Metal, and Punk. The album has a length of more than 27 minutes.

BASILICA show right from the start what they are made of. "Grinding Teeth" has a very fast beginning with aggressive guitar riffs and a bit of a Hardcore vibe before the typical down-tempo sequences start kicking in. Lead guitar sequences and bass are pretty technical and the guttural vocals range from medium to low growls and screams. BASILICA released the opener as video and the YouTube link is given below. While the song structure of "Grinding Teeth" is still relatively straightforward, things are getting a bit more distorted and twisted in "Exit Wound". The main riffs as well as lead guitar sequences sound catchy throughout with some of the leads sounding very familiar to me. Songs on "Basilica" are pretty short, around two to three minutes each, leaving the listener relatively short time to get used to the twists and turns in rhythm. The third song "The Fall Of Phorycs" is a two minutes instrumental but with hardly any significance. So what?

With "Dispel" and especially "Starve" BASILICA really go back to business. "Dispel" has a classy bass section at the beginning and the rhythm varies probably a dozen times within the three minutes of the song. "Starve" is one of my favorites: aggressive guitar riffs, a few sections at high pace with excellent leads in between and a lead guitar solo of high technical quality which contributes nicely to the song. After another needless instrumental break, "Everything" and "Chimeric" continue with the chaotic, but for this genre typical rhythms, down-tempo sequences, powerful and heavy guitar riffs, and crunching bass sequences. At least during the first half of "Everything", the rhythm has a certain catchiness, which BASILICA build into their songs in a very smart way. "Chimeric" includes a guest vocal contribution of Carson Pace who introduces a bit of a different vocal layer with his higher pitched screams. The self-titled debut album comes to an end with "Myling" and "Sacrifice Of Form" and both songs reflect the sound spectrum of BASILICA pretty well. "Myling" is another song with a fast rhythm base, here driven by insane hammering drums. A feature of the album is that the faster parts typically occur during the first half of the songs, while then the mid-tempo and down-tempo parts dominate. "Myling" is very technical towards the end of the song with good interplays of lead guitar, bass, and drums. Highlight on "Sacrifice Of Form" is without doubt the lead guitar solo halfway through the song.

"Basilica" is more than a decent debut album. BASILICA understand it very well to combine different genre elements into a sound that has, although dominated by Sludge, diversity and its own identity. All band members have an extremely good set of skills with their instruments and they are able to combine this perfectly to create a set of very good songs. If there are any flaws, that are the instrumentals on the album, however, this is only my personal taste. The album has a decent production. It will be interesting to see how BASILICA develop in the future, at least their start is very promising.