Exclusive Track Premiere: Lago – “Initiation Rite”
The long-awaited return of the desert-dwelling dissonant death metallers!
8 years is a lifetime. Not in actuality, but for this mental exercise I want you to remember the world as it was then. A world before AI integrated everything, COVID lockdowns, and the cultural pillar that is 6-7. When taking the time to actually marinate on all that has transpired, it is daunting to consider. Well, in this time-frame, Arizona underground death metal darlings Lago have been hard at work and appear to have taken all the atrocities since their previous release and funneled them into a musical package determined to punish and cleanse.
Releasing their first material since 2018’s criminally underrated Sea of Duress, this Phoenix quartet has crafted an experience that pulls influence from several subgenres of the death metal variety: OSDM riffing from the likes of Immolation and Incantation, dissonant guitar lines a la Gorguts or Ulcerate, topped off with the tightness and guitar heroics of Death. If any of that even remotely piques your interest and you find yourself unfamiliar with Lago, then I am glad to fix your misbegotten life. Today you can take your first dose with this exclusive premiere of “Initiation Rite” from their upcoming LP, Vigil.
The track is packed with all the grimy goodness you would come to expect from a current iteration of an OSDM unit, but Lago manages to make it atmospheric in sections with the spine-tingling riffs that slither their way through the composition. Pummeling riffs and drumming abound with harmonics to shock your brain to full attention and there’s a solo that focuses on craft and feeling, not just speed and technique. If what is teased here is a taste of what else lies ahead, we will all soon pledge fealty to the cult of Lago.
Vigil releases May 8 and is available for pre-order through Everlasting Spew Records.
