Demo:listen: Vaticinal Rites

Out this Friday from a triad of underground strongholds, Vaticinal Rites’ self-titled debut EP introduces a powerful new combination of mind-bending, eyeball-liquefying and skull-crushing death metal.

Vaticinal Rites formed last year, at the height of the pandemic. Bringing together, from the scattered sumps of the United Kingdom subterranean death metal scene, four members, the band was formed by lead guitarist and songwriter Andreas Yiasoumi.

Vaticinal Rites, Andreas tells us, “was formed […] with the intention of simply writing good solid death metal tunes and paying homage to the late ‘80s/early ‘90s extreme metal scenes. It all came about roughly around two years ago now prior to me recruiting the other members. Whilst struggling personally with anxiety and mental health issues, I needed an escape from all of that negativity. Luckily for me playing the guitar and working on this project provided it. After a while of writing riffs and putting together about 9 songs, I finally realised that I may have something worth showing.” Andreas continues: “I contacted my close friend and old touring buddy Jack Kenny, and asked if he wanted to lay down some live drum recordings to the songs I had. From there I made some enquiries and put the feelers out for a vocalist. I got put in touch with Marcus from my homie Chris, who plays in Inhuman Nature (killer crossover thrash from over here in London). Shoutout to Chris and the boys. I trusted his recommendation and got in touch with Marcus right away. We instantly hit it off. live in a London Suburb, so around here there aren’t really many people listening to obscure underground metal or metal in general for that matter, so to finally have a buddy who I could geek out with over this stuff was huge,” Andreas admits. “I knew instantly without even listening to his vocals that he was the guy. Marcus then put me in contact with Jake who now plays rhythm guitar.” 

Andreas explains, “Since we’re all currently scattered around the UK, we communicate through a plethora of different online spaces which allow us to make this all work. We talk on a daily basis, discuss ideas, concepts, share riffs etc. so yes it’s a collaborated effort however we’re not currently in a position to jam or rehearse live setting.”

Andreas says the name Vaticinal Rites is “based around the idea of a supernatural occult performing technologically advanced rituals and ancient philosophies, of which a future society live by and worship.” —More on that when you purchase the album! 

“The writing process done mainly by me to begin with,” Andreas reflects. “I record and arrange the riffs, lead and drums etc. into a song structure. Once I’m done, I’ll send it to the guys for their input. When we’re all happy with the arrangement, lyrics are then written by Marcus.”

Vaticinal Rites comes out this Friday from Caligari Records, Redefining Darkness Records and Dry Cough Records. Andreas breaks it down for us: “Originally, the EP was planned to come out on Caligari Records, but after RD showed interest, they came up with the idea of doing a collaborated release, which we were stoked about as we’re big admirers of both labels. Since then, we’ve all been working together as a team along with our good friend Andy at Dry Cough Records here in the UK, who is based up in Manchester and is putting out the UK/EU tape variant. They have all been incredible from day one. True pros at what they do and it’s an honour to be a part of their rostas.”

Regarding the deeply stirring painting for the cover art, Andreas tells us the cover “was painted by Fernando JFL (@giotefeli) and heavily inspired by some lost death and doom EP covers from the ‘90s such as Amorphis – Black Winter Day, As Serenity Fades – Earthborn, Crematory – Denial and Eulogy – The Essence. They all have a really unique look to them, with an interesting use of colour and texture.

“Originally we had planned for a black and white primitive like design, but we wanted to at least try and stand out from the current abyss of black and white demo tapes and eps coming out right now, which by the way we love and already own plenty of, but when the opportunity arose to get a painting done by Fernando, we could not pass it up. It pushed the release back quite a bit, but it was worth the wait. He created a stunning piece of work. 

“Personally I am a big fan of classic sci-fi and fantasy novels from the likes of Isaac Asimov, Michael Moorcock and Brian Aldiss, as well as movies such as Heavy Metal and Ken Russell’s Altered States. We referenced some of these too. 

“I think artwork and illustration is just as important as the songs when it comes to death metal. It requires the same amount of respect and attention, regardless what type of release it is. Other than a live performance, when you have tunes that sound like the artwork, it becomes a bit more of an added experience for the listener. I’d like to think we achieved this for those that pick up a copy of our EP. It’s meant for listeners to simply sit/meditate over the artwork and lyrical content for the entire duration.” 

Vaticinal Rites presents you with a heaping of extreme and challenging death metal punishment. But for those wondering, there’s already more coming. According to Andreas, “The EP was recorded over the spring/summer of 2021 and since then we’ve been in the process of writing our full-length record.” He says, “We also plan on setting up some rehearsal sessions, which might be recorded and released too, who knows. The main focus though right now is the album. Hoping to hit the studio again come spring.”