Hailing from Finland, comes Industrial Black Metal band DEAD FLESH STIGMA, and their debut album “Necrocosmic Death Ritual.” The album has essentially eight songs, three short interludes, and one short closer. “Worms and Eyes, Eyes as Worms” is first. It’s a short, proto-typical Black Metal song with all of the common elements….vocal screams, a wall of guitars, and raw production. “Farewell to the Flesh” has a chaotic and barbaric sound, where the wheels of the high speed bus are nearly coming off from being pushed past their limits. The first interlude titled “Cipher for Self-Destruction” is quite creepy, and without a lot of sonority. It sounds like the prelude to a forthcoming disaster.

“Black Harvest” reopens the portal to another world, with a contentious and energetic sound reminiscent of the FWOBM. The sound drops off to Industrial and steely sound that are quite harrowing, and then it returns once more. “The Weak Wept Below” explodes out of the gate with blood and bodily fluid everywhere, and there are haunting sounds in the background. The backing elements make it sound like the song is propelled off the ground and shooting into the sky. The second interlude, “Life Lies Bleeding” is another minute of very creepy sounds. “The House ov Satan Pt. 1 – Pure Denial of Life” is a short, two-minute blast of blasphemous sounds and I am now getting the gist of the drums…they are programmed, which is neither here nor there…just an observation.

The title track has galloping drum work from the first note forward, and it’s pedal to the metal type of a song. It does take short breaths, but they are just enough to keep you alive. The third and final interlude, titled “The Chamber of Faceless Angels” lets some fog leak out of the caldron and slowly poison all those in the room. “In the Shadows of the Conquerors” is a full on attack of your senses, and by the half-way point, you find your vision beginning to cloud and your head pounding. The spoken words are evil breaths of Satan himself. “The House ov Satan Pt. 2 – The Dreamlike Triumph of Rebirth” opens with some evil atmosphere, and the stench of death, marked with flies and other insects. Pestilence is on his way. “Outro – Trapped in False Reality” closes the album, and the slow, marching pace foretells the coming of society’s doom.

What started out partly as an ode to the forefathers of Black Metal transformed into some wider boundaries of evil and disease. The end product was quite well done, and the band was able to stretch boundaries while still holding true to the tenants that created the genre.