Back in 2023, Brazilian death crew Fossilization dropped their Leprous Daylight debut on the unsuspecting world below, impressing Cherd in the process with its Incantation-esque blend of ghastly cavern crawling and 5-ton doomy digressions. He even went so far as to suggest it was superior to Incantation’s then-new platter Unholy Deification while generally singing the praises of preserved beast bone recovery. Fast-forward a few years, and the band’s sophomore release, Advent of Wounds, falls to me as Cherd has gone missing in a very nonsuspicious way that does NOT require police involvement or any half-assed internet sleuthing of any kind. So what do the two men behind Fossilization bring to the archaeology party this time? More raw, unvarnished spelunk-core full of horrific nods to Dead Congregation, Phobocosm, and of course, the esteemed Incanters of OSDM. It’s heavy, nasty, rough, and raw, just as you want it. But is this mere imitation of genre archetypes or something that can stand on its own pale and deformed feet? Let’s turn on the headlamps and see what scurries into the darkness.

Opener “Cremation of a Seraph” comes out blasting savagely before going full caverncore with scads of hideous trem-riffs that inspire menace and dread. This is the kind of relentlessly heavy, abrasive death metal that destabilizes your brain health, and it can peel the paint off the walls of whatever mental asylum you’re eventually confined in. Yes, their style will remind you of the genre bigs, and it’s hard to miss the influences as they slither up between the floorboards, but Fossilization is good at what they do, and this song will reduce your internal organs to pus paste. Better still is the ginormously mayhemic “Disentombed and Reassembled by the Ages,” which is like the mutated offspring of Bolt Thrower, Asphyx, and Hate Eternal, who’s been fed a steady diet of elephant steroids and military-grade bath salts. It’s fucking ugly, and I can’t get enough of this muck fuckery. The drums blast your face off as an unruly collection of skin-flaying riffs rip at you from all sides. It’s like a maelstrom of torment with no escape hatch. The tempos shift just when they should, offering doomy segments that make the faster parts bite all the harder. This is lethal shit.

While the remainder of Advent of Wounds is solid enough, nothing equals the sheer intensity of the first 2 cuts. “Scalded by His Sacred Halo” pummels and pounds away, only to drop a killer doom segment that will oppress your life and deathstyle. “While the Light Lasts” delivers an awkward, herky-jerky pace, and there’s a strong Novembers Doom vibe that I wouldn’t have expected, alongside some Phobocosm-y bits. It’s interesting, but it’s the least killer track present, and it drags toward the end. The problem I have as Advent unspools is that the merely good stuff makes me want to slap on some prime Incantation or Immolation instead. This is well-done material, but it’s close enough to the genre greats to appear the lesser for the comparisons. At a trim 35 minutes, though, it’s not a challenge to get through, and the fact that the songs are all kept in the 3-5 minute range helps the album’s flow. I like the production here, which gives the drums a primal impact, and the guitars exude the proper force and weight.

Masterminds V and Z deliver a truckload of vicious riffs that feel fierce and feral. The use of scathing trems is highly effective and adds a dark, dangerous edge to the material. A lot of these leads have a life of their own as they flop and slither on the cavern floor, instilling terror and revulsion. The vocals by V are appropriately raw, inhuman, and subterranean, providing ample awfulness to the already unpleasant soundscapes. The drums occasionally lapse into unusual patterns, and this can sound out of place, but it provides a little bit of a unique identity to the often overly familiar style Fossilization plies you with.

I’m a fan of the style heard on Advent of Wounds, and like Cherd before me, I think Fossilization have a lot of good things going on. However, I think their debut packs a bigger, more consistent impact than this one does. There are great moments here that speak of huge potential, but too much of the album is merely good. I’ll keep my eyes on these cretins because they have something potent developing. I just hope they can harness it more completely next time and really shake up my skeletal system. Worth a loud investigation.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Everlasting Spew
Websites: facebook.com/fossilization | instagram.com/fossilizationprocess
Releases Worldwide: February 13th, 2026

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