Ter Ziele – Embodiment of Death
Release Date: 28th February 2025
Label: Tartarus Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Doom
FFO: Säver, Predatory Light, Amenra, MØL.
Review By: Paul Cairney
For a debut album, Ter Ziele appear to hit a homer… Embodiment of Death is an album that slaps the doom genre like the petty little bitch it is, demanding that it is recognised as boss!
Ok, so that may be a little bit over-dramatic, but the 5 tracks on offer (4 if you discount the opening introductory track) are a very impressive slab of doom, with subtle hints of blackened post-metal, if indeed that is a thing.
Often, it is the vocals that carry the weight of a doom album. Embodiment of Death is no exception. The guttural howls and screaming raised the heaviness to almost unimaginable levels. They invade your soul. They try to hurt you from the inside, infiltrating your psyche with masterful ease. The crushing heaviness of ‘The Separation of Body and Soul’, the albums 2nd track, is enhanced through the tortured vocal.
It is ‘Of Noumenon Reality’ that drives home Ter Ziele’s intent. It reinforces the concept of the album, where it ‘invites you to delve into the shadows of your own psyche, leaving you transformed by the visceral passage through darkness and desperation’. I didn’t write this, but I utterly agree with the statement.
Embodiment of Death could perhaps be described as a tough listen, but it is rewarding. The sheer intensity of the album is unrelenting across its 40minute run-time. Even when it slows things down, as it does at the beginning of the final track, ‘As Long as I Breathe, I am to Suffer’, you just wait for the glorious, inevitable suffering as the album arrives at the end.
This is a very powerful debut that hints at great things to come.
(4.5 / 5)
