Unearthly Rites

Unearthly Rites from Finland

Ecdysis: the process of shedding the old skin.

Finland’s UNEARTHLY RITES are preparing to release their debut album, Ecdysis, on May 3 via their new label home Prosthetic Records. On Ecdysis UNEARTHLY RITES’ potent old school death metal songwriting offers a rallying cry against corporate greed and environmental negligence, with a scathing rebuke of those culpable of ecocide and climate destruction.

Formed in 2020 through existing friendships in their native underground punk scene, UNEARTHLY RITES’ members' mutual adherence to DIY methods and principles of creativity and community resulted in a self-titled EP in 2021. As with their preceding release, Ecdysis once again saw the band record to tape with drummer Tapio Lepistö at the helm of the sessions at Black Floyds Analog Studio between May and September 2022. The ominously stark black and white cover also sees bassist Jennika Vikman once again take on art and logo duties.

At the beating heart of Ecdysis lies UNEARTHLY RITES’ insistence for a better world, with the perilous effects of capitalist interests taking precedence over nature and human life at the core of the group’s concerns. Through their collective work in environmental activism, including anti-mining campaigns in the arctic north, Ecdysis is less a despairing cry as it is a plea for change.

The band’s caustic approach to extreme metal and punk adds a feverish urgency to proceedings, with the rhythm section of bassist Vikman and guitarists Simo Perkiömäki and Santtu Markko evoking the genre’s most brutish traits against Sisli Piisilä’s visceral vocal delivery. Despite their rage and despondency at institutional apathy on the title track and the harrowingly doomy highlight cut Sacrifice Zones, album closer Doomed shuns inaction and resigned complicitly by directly challenging the listener to choose their side for humanity’s sake and future.