Artist: Consecration
Country: United Kingdom
Label: Nuclear Winter Records
Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD
Year: 2026
In their 15+ year career this British Death/Doom Metal band has amassed a respectable discography. Besides a couple of short players, this latest piece ‘Exanimis’, is their fourth full-length album. Remarkable and noteworthy is that all of these albums have been released by different labels, but now seems to have landed a good deal with Nuclear Winter Records. A label that has been known for quality Death Metal for so many years now, but with Consecration it ventures more into the doomy side of Death Metal. A territory not entirely new for the label, take a listen to the criminally underrated Anhedonist for instance, but certainly a welcome departure from the norm.
‘Exanimis’, however, starts with a fairly standard kind of Death Metal that fits best in between early Hooded Menace and Acid Witch. It could almost lead you up the garden path, especially if this is your first time listening to the band and, given that it’s on Nuclear Winter Records, you’re expecting “just” good Death Metal.
It’s only a little later on that the album really picks up steam. Not so much in terms of tempo, which, as is customary, remains fairly slow, but certainly in terms of depth and intensity. With greater variety and melancholic melodies, the comparisons with Acid Witch fade away, but Hooded Menace remains, having almost certainly served as one of the band’s major sources of inspiration. Not only in the fairly slow-rolling rhythms, but especially in the very prominent dry vocals, it is impossible not to think of Hooded Menace’s first few albums.
It is very important to understand that this is a Death/Doom Metal album, not a Doom/Death Metal one. Despite the occasional sinister, but mainly sombre melodies and the slow passages, Death Metal is the dominant genre. You could compare it to bands like Disma, Evoken or even Cianide, who incorporate slow sections into their Death Metal but never sound like My Dying Bride, Swallow The Sun or Saturnus. Admittedly, some tracks do come close; just have a listen to ‘Cold Grey Stone’, for example. That’s a track that might perhaps be classified as Doom/Death Metal, but even then it leans more towards the heavier work of Mourning Beloveth than any randomly chosen romantic Doom/Death Metal band.
Musically, Consecration is perhaps a bit of an odd one out in the current Nuclear Winter Records stable, and it may not be to everyone’s taste, but in terms of quality, it fits perfectly into the Greek label’s catalogue. It’s also worth noting that the “competition” on the label is fierce; ‘Exanimis’ is being released alongside the excellent new albums by Godless and Rotten Tomb, which are definitely my personal favourites, so let’s hope Consecration doesn’t get completely overshadowed.
