BEAST OF REVELATIONS is a Death/Doom Metal band, featuring the INCANTATION vocalist JOHN MCENTEE on vocals.  While INCANTATION mix brutal Death Metal with slower more Doom based stretches, "Ancient Rituals of Death,"  is mostly focused on those slower, lumbering, stretches for an old school Death/Doom feel.

"Legions," hits hard with immediate effect in the very first few seconds.  A bell toll strikes as Death/Doom riffs drop like a pile of corpses. John's vocals only get better with age and he has never sounded more brutal and torn apart than he does here.  The song is extremely dark-dense riffs and heavy handed bass from AJ and Bob's drums make sure no light will come in to infect the atmosphere. "The Cryptic Void," has some frightening riffs, especially the opening portions.  What I find so fascinating about this song, and the album in general, is that despite the Death Meal oriented approach to the Doom, I can tell that the band especially AJ is influenced by more old school, traditional Doom bands.

The riffs are evil and permeate with that "cold as a grave" feeling but they are backed by a clear love for the forefathers of Doom, where the focus was just thick slabs of riffs on top of more thick slabs of riffs. It is an approach that works well because it lets the band bring that extreme Death Metal intensity but it has the structure and sensibilities of just straight up balls to the wall Doom fucking metal.  It doesn't hurt that Bob doesn't try to overcompensate by playing the drums non stop, a million miles an hour, throughout the album.  He plays what the songs need, a true focus on song writing craft than balls out over doing it just for the sake of being heavy.

"The Days of Vengeance," ups the intensity, especially in the vocal department.  If you aren't used to this type of music, I wouldn't be surprised if John's performance here scared the shit out of you.  The riffs and drums work in tandem, all the elements coming into place for one of the best Doom songs I've heard this year.  The faster riffs towards the end give the song a harrowing quality, like your time is almost up before the impending doom of some unseen terror finally grabs you. "The Unholy Roman Empire," has some of the album's best riffs and the solos are unique enough to grab your attention but not overbearing enough to take away from the Death/Doom atmosphere.  Considering the subject matter, the solos/leads add an appropriately epic dimension to the song.  John's vocals here are very disturbingly low and ride on top of the riffs with monstrous effect.

If you're into Death/Doom (and why wouldn't you be?) this album will hit the spot for those cravings of cadaver riffs, tempos that wade through thick pools of muck, and monstrous vocals.