I didn’t know that I needed Decrepit Altar in my life… until now. I love the cavernous, murky, and downright swampy vibes that these Croatian death/doom dealers are spewing out into the unsuspecting world.
Egregious Defilement is their brand spanking first EP, and let me tell you what: IT’S FUCKING GREAT! I probably didn’t need the all caps, but goddammit, this album sticks to your eardrums like an angry barnacle and refuses to let go. Humble, constant reader, you need this album in your life.
First track is deadly, and Decrepit Altar rip into “The Festering Depths” like a starving animal. This ungodly 8:21-minute beast crawls on all fours. This song is a slow and precise beating, bone-breaking riffs, and earthshaking bass rhythms come together to slowly drown you in the mire. There are 3 China cymbal tings and then boom! They hit full speed midway through before they slow it down for the remainder of the song.
Decrepit Altar might as well be playing severed limbs instead of instruments because Egregious Defilement harkens back to those early Incantation albums; Onwards to Golgatha and Mortal Throne of Nazarene quickly come to mind. The oppressive feeling of foreboding menace is palpable as they go into “Beckoning of the Moss Ridden Tombs”. It’s a short track with a 5:06-minute runtime. It is not just a splash of grease on bare skin, the song lets that fucking grease sizzle and burn until the flesh falls from the bone.
“Fields of Flayed Skin” pours on the filth even more. I don’t know where this album was recorded, but it resonates into the gore-soaked walls of oblivion. The way Egregious Defilement hits those Death/ Doom bullet points is amazing, and I can picture a live setting bathed in green light with twenty-eight fog machines suffocating the gathered masses.
This is one of those albums that commanded me to write about it toot-sweet, and so that’s what I have done. Decrepit Altar is for the fans of Incantation, Winter, Sedimentu,m and Tribunal. Pick this one up with fireproof gloves, folks. It is burning hot and will melt your fingers.
