MAJESTIC DOWNFALL is a death/doom metal band formed in 2006. Originally it was a one man project from Jacobo Córdova, formed when he was in Texas; it  has since expanded into a full band. "Aorta" is their six full length album in addition to also having a demo and two splits under their belt. This is the first time I'm listening to the band's music and I am absolutely loving it. The most striking aspect to me is the bass, which is played by vocalist Jacobo; it is heavy, thick and full...just everything you would want to hear from the instrument in the death/doom genre.

His vocals are deep death growls that also manage to be intelligible. Dahern and Alÿ tackle the guitars with finesse. They are both adapt and adding in melody to their riffs, not afraid to hold back on the abrasiveness when needed but also have no problems dropping the hammer as well. Alfonso handles the drums and he compliments the entire package. With doom, the drums don't need to be too sparse nor too involved. I say he nails the sweet spot with that.

With four tracks and over an hour of play time, "Aorta" is quite the deep dive but the songs never get boring or have any lulls. Your average metal fan probably wont stick around long enough but us doom lovers crave these crazy long albums. "Roberta" opens the album with a sprawling nineteen minutes and forty seconds of epic death doom. The song is rather melodic in places which I find enjoyable. The bass pounds through the melodic riffs in the beginning, the band making it clear they have many layers to their  sound. Around the halfway point the song even goes slightly ambient before being followed by an absolutely crushing passage, especially the drums which sound like explosions going off.

"A Dying Crown" starts off very quiet with ambient textures. The riffs hit and the flood waters come in. Thick, dense as hell guitar permeates the air and the bass makes it even more abrasive. This all comes off as very methodical and well thought out which shows the bands song writing and organizational skills. The title track has a slow but highly effective build up. The song morphs into a lumbering beast until it scales back for a darkly melodic section consisting of clean tones. Afterwards a well placed section of crushing riffs and harmonies appears for one of the best moments in the album. This song is just very well paced and tense, an lurking danger ever present.

The final track "Become Eternal" is a nineteen minute behemoth and a grand way to end the album. This one is quite a bit more aggressive than the other songs, at least in places. In other parts, such as around the four minute mark, it takes on a sort of Gothic quality.  After the 12 minute mark the song increases in intensity with choppy riffs and a brutal vocal attack. I am really impressed with this album and MAJESTIC DOWNFALL themselves.  "Aorta" is a solid piece of death doom that I can see myself returning to many more times.