Death metal was supposed to rot, and that’s why Los Angeles HM-2 stompers Ceremonial Decay — decomposed of current and former members of Stygian Crown, Morgion, Exhausted Prayer, Witchaven and others — peddle (or should that be pedal) their craft with old-school classics like Entombed, Dismember and Carnage in mind. The quartet’s debut EP, The Crescent and the Cross, appeared online digitally late last year, but starting tomorrow, you can get the physical goods (remixed and mastered by Decibel fave Leon Del Muerte) in cassette form via Bay area shell-dealers Transylvanian Tapes. Drummer Rhett Davis provides some context before you preview this ripper below.
“Ceremonial Decay came together out of a desire to pay homage to our underground metal roots and The Crescent and the Cross is the first culmination of that effort,” David tells Decibel. “Our original intent was to create Swedish inspired death metal, which it undeniably is, but as we were writing we found ourselves bringing in a wider range influences, slightly colored by our doom and black metal DNA. This EP tells the story of the downfall of the last vestige of the Roman Empire though the sounds of crushing death metal.”
Pre-order The Crescent and the Cross EP from Transylvanian Tapes here.
