apanthropy

Primordial Rites
Contemplation Scriptures & The Swallowing Void
Nameless Grave Records
To Be Released: 11/14/25

Rating: 84/100

“This five-song EP runs at slightly less than 20 minutes, highlighting a band that has clearly evolved since their first demo, displaying a throwback style of death metal that reeks of the invocations of the late 1990s and early 2000s, rough, unpolished, and sharp-edged sonic destruction, paying homage to the eldritch terror it draws influence from. This isn’t a display of hyper-technicality or a foray into melodic or melody-reliant sugary death metal; there is a rawness and an authenticity to the delivery here that is no longer a common thing to hear in 2025.”

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1 – Intro
2 – Dismal is the Eternal (It is the Key, It is the Gate)
3 – Immolation Oath to Chaos and Demise
4 – Forlorn Fathomless Vortices
5 – The Calamitous Void (After the Gates of Yoth)
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Primordial Rites are a fairly new addition to the death metal world, having been established in 2022 and issuing their first demo tape in 2024. The two-song effort was abrasive and frontal Lovecraftian death metal, hinting towards ancient influences in the deep and caliginous Mexican death metal scene and the impending chaos the band was gearing up for.

November 11th, 2025, will mark Primordial Rites’ first formal release, entitled Contemplation Scriptures & The Swallowing Void, to be issued through Nameless Grave Records. This five-song EP runs at slightly less than 20 minutes, highlighting a band that has clearly evolved since their first demo, displaying a throwback style of death metal that reeks of the invocations of the late 1990s and early 2000s, rough, unpolished, and sharp-edged sonic destruction, paying homage to the eldritch terror it draws influence from. This isn’t a display of hyper-technicality or a foray into melodic or melody-reliant sugary death metal; there is a rawness and an authenticity to the delivery here that is no longer a common thing to hear in 2025. Contemplation Scriptures & The Swallowing Void offers very little relief from its auditorial assault, opting mostly for faster tempos, barbaric riff phrases, and bone-breaking transitions.

Opening with an intro track, the listener is primed for the first battery, ‘Dismal is the Eternal (It is the Key, It is the Gate),’ which was the closing track of the band’s 2024 debut demo, rearing its ugly head once again in its new home as the first formal song of the EP. A shrill, dissonant, almost alarm-like hammer-on/pull-off motif greets the listener, and the second guitar employs a twisted wreck of riff crafting that weighs heavy with palm-muted chords and bursts of dissonance and extreme consonance beneath it. There is no build-up or lead-in for the track, it’s a ripping slab of extreme death right from the start. Vocals whip and strike through various stages of guttural delivery and double-stacking, never reaching points to where they become totally incomprehensible but more of a madman’s insane shouting. The constant waves of tension and resolution is reminiscent of early Immolation.

The third track, ‘Immolation Oath to Chaos and Demise,’ is, by far, the longest track on the EP. At roughly six and a half minutes, there is plenty of room for the song to expand and contract in violent order. A slower intro section of crashing chords and harrowing vocals is superseded by a triumphant long-form riff comprised of basic chord shapes in a routine progression, but its delivery is amped with pure animus, creating a phrase that is memorable and song-defining. Leads are present towards the second half of the song, onward, adding another channel of chaos to an already fully saturated mix.

‘Forlorn Fathomless Vortices’ is a vicious change of gears, a short track that charges in like hellish calvary at the early stages of the song, employing a circular tremolo sequence that chaotically jumps back and forth in pitch alongside a machine-gun percussion delivery that features rapid fire blast beats. This short burst of raw sonic information shows the dirty side of Primordial Rites, one where things aren’t always perfectly in time, a blasting mass of storming chaos, in some shade of very early Krisiun.

The final track, ‘The Calamitous Void (After the Gates of Yoth),’ opens with a sample from the 1997 cult horror film Event Horizon. Easily the most musically varied track on the EP, the band explores a myriad of tempos and pacing, ranging from up-tempo blasting to a near glacial-like crawl towards the center of the song. Transitions are particularly vicious on this track and some of the aggressive tonal characteristics really shine through.

Production on Contemplation Scriptures & The Swallowing Void is surprisingly rough and unpolished. In an era where bands generally overproduce their records, Primordial Rites opt for a stylistically earlier sounding palette. There is a lot of mid-range at work here with a lot of low-end accents from things like tom strikes and palm-muted open-chord rhythm sections to help bring dynamics into the sound. Vocals are aggressive and frontal but fit well with the music. More low-end dynamics and punch on the bass drums would have created a monster percussion presence, already armed with sharp splashes of sound from the cymbals and a bright cracking snare tone next to a deep dynamic tom presence.

If you’re a fan of the early works of bands such as Krisiun, Sepultura, or Mystifier, or if you’re into the distinct tonality of other national acts such as The Chasm, Cenotaph, or Shub-Niggurath, give this the short amount of time it demands. Cosmic horror death metal that boasts abrasive riffcraft, no-bullshit songwriting, solid production, and packed with the energy that only bands at the earliest part of their career can produce, there’s little to lose if you’re a death metal fan. 2025 has been a stellar year for death metal, especially for debut releases, and Primordial Rites is now part of that conversation.

Label: Nameless Grave Records
Band: Primordial Rites

AJK