siLLy puPPy One of the many newer bands to form in the SF Bay Area, the trio of Stephen Coon (bass), Aerin Johnson (drums) and Alex Miletich (guitar, vocals) formed VILE RITES in Santa Rosa, CA and have just released their debut release THE AGELESS, a collection of five ass-kicking tracks in the vein of early Opeth and At The Gates along with progressive death metal bands like classic Death, Anata and other rampaging death metal bands raging along at full speed.

VILE RITES hits the ground running with a competent display of prog / tech death metal with a twist: while many newer death metal bands are heading to the cosmos for sci-fi infused themes, or harkening back to the classic shock and awe themes of the golden age of old school death metal, VILE RITES rather crafts an EP’s worth of material revolving around the theme of Methuselah, an ancient bristlecone pine which is the oldest known non-clonal organism on the planet (as seen on the cover art.)

With only five tracks the EP is less than 25 minutes but it packs a major punch and feels like an album’s worth of metal mania concentrated. The opening “Susurrus Balfourianae delivers a short ambient intro before the title track blows you away with hints of Opeth’s first album “Orchid” featuring unhinged death metal on steroids along with short acoustic interruptions. While the non-metal moments are rare, they effectively set a tone that is carried on by the aggressive Death inspired riffing frenzies and subtle time signature deviations.

THE AGELESS does an excellent job of traversing through many death metal rites of passage with heavy galloping riffs, jittery time signature abstractness, melodic yet not overly so, eerie atmospheres to set the stage for the overarching theme and impeccable instrumental interplay with interestingly distinct guttural growling performances from Alex Miletich. Add excellent guitar soloing, distinctly separate bass grooves and percussive gymnastics that run the gamut from mellowed out accompaniment to full-on blastbeasts and it’s not easy to be blown away.

While competent in virtually every way and a compelling 25 minutes of death metal madness, perhaps the only complaint is that VILE RITES hasn’t yielded a memorable display of creativity which is the boon of many an extreme metal band in the 21st century. While all the boxes are ticked to prove their worthiness, the musical processions exude a been there done that overall vibe. This is definitely a worthy 2022 addition to the burgeoning world of death metal but not one that will stand the test of time as something truly original. Nevertheless i detect nothing but gushing reviews for this band in the future when they release a full album that fully cements their sound into musical perfection.