Vile Rites - “Senescence” cassette

Carbonized Records release

I didn't get around to checking this album out when it was released in 2024. Had I done so then it would have most certainly been in my top 5 albums of 2024. In a sea of clones, Vile Rites really stand apart from their peers mixing in psychedelic and progressive elements into their OSDM sound.

Listening to this album is a journey. One that demands repeated listens. Another high recommendation from me for this Carbonized Records released masterpiece.

Gold cassette shell housed in a clear cassette case with 6-Panel J-card. Download card included.

Northern California death dealers Vile Rites spent a long time perfecting their sound—guitarist/vocalist Alex Miletich began writing for the project in 2017 while living in Portland—before settling on the progressive death metal sound heard on their debut album, Senescence.

Clocking in around the forty minute mark, the songs on Senescence become progressively more ambitious the further into the album the listener goes, ending on the one-two punch of “Transcendent Putrefaction” and “Banished to Solitude.” While still rooted in the expected death metal, both tracks explore dynamics and incorporate softer parts that slow Vile Rites down and allow the band to revel in the atmosphere (and guitar solos) they’ve created.