Italian-born Bay Area resident Dario J Derna has had many lives as a musician and they now all coalesce in Ritual Chamber. From drumming for criminally overlooked death-metal outfit Infester in the early 90s he’s played keyboards with funeral doom masters Evoken, reinvented himself as Numinas, preached the black gospel with Abazagorath, Krohm and Vetus Obscurum and returned to drums for Incantation disciples Drawn And Quartered.
After an excruciatingly dark demo in 2014, the first proper full-length of his solo project synthesizes all those past experiences into one, gigantic and pitch-black swathe of miasmic filth. Ritual Chamber’s brand of doomy and blackened primitive death metal may have become all the rage lately but Dario, still holds his own by maintaining a constant form of tension. During these 60 minutes, it’s hard to tell which aspect is the creepiest, be it the sparse synth layers, barbaric riffing or utterly cavernous vocals. but Obscurations shatters all light at once, with no hope in sight.
