Rigor Sardonicous - Ego Diligio Vos ...

When doom metal and death metal meet, it is truly a glorious experience. I’m a huge fan of the hybrid. When done well, the pulverizing pace of doom mixed with the viciousness of death is like the sonic equivalent of a colossal titan ravaging the earth, and Rigor Sardonicous have certainly achieved this effect with their sixth full-length, Ego Diligio Vos. This is the first I’ve ever heard of the band, but I’m very much excited to check out their previous efforts after being demolished by this record. Rigor Sardonicous begin the album with “Praevidere Peregrinus”, an instrumental intro that is backed by a martial war-drum and then built upon by keyboards and guitar to create this ill-omened atmosphere that brings to mind the coming of a great and ancient darkness, some primordial entity rising for want of suffering. And then it begins.

The first proper track, “Caelum Inferiorum”, wastes no time in macerating the listener. The guitars are filthy and low, and not being particularly savvy on the technical aspects of how a guitar achieves a certain sound, I can only liken it to how the guitars sound in Bloodbath’s Resurrection Through Carnage or Black Breath’s Heavy Breathing. The drumwork is solid and hits hard, maintaining the sluggish and brutal pace of the album. My favorite aspect of this album, however, is the vocals. Holy shit. The nerd in me can only describe it as what the Lords of Hell must sound like in the Diablo video-game franchise, provided they didn’t all ready have voice actors assigned to them. It’s guttural and menacing and perfect for this style of metal. There seems to be a slight effect put on the vocals, but it’s purely complementary and nothing that would lead me to believe they’re unnatural.

I really enjoyed how each song begins with a monstrous riff right from the start, never giving the listener an inch, except for this one moment at about the 3:40 mark of the third track, “Hilarus Sperablis”. The crushing momentum yields briefly to an interlude that maintains the heaviness of the song but is noticeably more melodic. What could have been an un-welcomed experimentation with a more euphonious sound is well-executed by Rigor Sardonicous, providing the listener with a pleasant reprieve from the otherwise dominating tone of the music. I highly recommend giving this album a listen.....9/10.

Words: Julio Espin

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