Band:	Mitochondrion
Album:	Vitriseptome
Style:	Blackened death metal, Progressive death metal
Release date:	November 01, 2024
A review by:	X-Ray Rod

01. (Malascension)
02. Increatum Vox
03. The Erythapside
04. Oblithemesis
05. (Antimonphoresis)
06. Vacuuole
07. Flail, Faexregem!
08. (Calcination)
09. The Protanthrofuge
10. Argentum Mortifixion
11. Ignis Caecus
12. (Intraluxiform)
13. The Cruxitome
14. ()
15. Vitriseptome
16. Viabyssm
17. Antitonement

Mitochondrion has returned after more than a decade, giving us barely a month as a heads-up before releasing Vitriseptome to the starved masses. This is THE return no one in the underground scene saw coming. It is also the return we all needed, for Mitochondrion has returned unbothered by current trends and with a clear mission in mind and heart: To elevate occult death metal to new heights, and to cast the listener into lower abysses.

"This is the Freedom? This is the Fire?
This is the Vision? This is the Void?
This is the abyss of the first matter?
This is the Spirit? This is… The Voice?"

Compared to many others, I’m pretty late in analysing Vitriseptome. This was for a couple of reasons (and a very small one was procrastination, I swear). Mitochondrion's 13-year gap in between their latest album and their previous acclaimed opus, Parasignosis, made it so that I slowly but surely ended up forgetting all about the band in general. There are many cavernous death metal bands that I’ve come to love from this period of time when this style took hold of the underground scene. We have the likes of Teitanblood, Impetuous Ritual, Wrathprayer and Owl: all great bands in their own right, and with their own vision. Yet somehow Mitochondrion always felt like an act that managed to harness an even more exclusive power. I patiently worked my way through their previous two albums like Theseus in the Minotaur’s labyrinth, gathering all the sounds that encompass Mitochondrion’s chaos music.

For starters, these Canadians are masters in regards to meticulous songwriting and impeccable flow between compositions. This is what justified the lengthy nature of their previous pieces of occult art, Archaeaeon and Parasignosis, and the same thing applies here. Vitriseptome has a massive length of 85 minutes, split into two parts. As unique as Mitochondrion are, my brain was still trying to find something to compare them with, if only to have a more solid ground to stand on. To this day I think Esoteric is the only band that seems to work on similarly large scales, albeit with a far different sound palette. Like the British funeral doom legends, Mitochondrion’s complex compositions reach otherworldly levels of maddening psychedelia from time to time, thanks to the wild nature of the lead guitars and the vortex of deep howls and growls. But with Mitochondrion, the colossal drumming is the main tension-puller, leading the riffs and solos through maniacal twists and turns; these Canadians are really out there to get you. The short bursts of ambient intros and outros serve as a disturbing palette cleanser, but the fact is that the listener is hilariously unprepared for the onslaught, as Mitochondrion are cracking skulls from the very beginning.

All tracks flow seamlessly into another, making it pretty obvious that this is an album that MUST be digested in one sitting to fully appreciate. The more lost you get after each track, the better. To count highlights seems redundant to me, but some of the moments where I truly lost my grip of reality include the finale of the first part of the album, “Flail, Faexregem!”. The second half of this track is a frightening crescendo; the way that all members of the band whisper, scream, chant and growl at the same time - “Crawl against the flame within. Call unto the flame within.” - is beyond anything I could have expected from death metal this year: sickening horror like nothing else. Later in the album, you will find “The Cruxitome”, a somewhat short but highly volatile number with some truly messed-up, disorienting tempo changes. “Viabyssm”, on the other hand, provides one of the few moments where you can catch some breath, as its final moments are accompanied by intense tribal drumming with wailing lead guitars. It is quite telling of Vitriseptome that one of its few calm sections would be considered intense for many other bands.

I usually do not comment on how different types of media work for an album. But yeah, this time I got to say it: Vitriseptome was clearly made for vinyl. The first vinyl covers the first part, “SALT”. The second vinyl then covers “SULPHUR” and “MERCURY” in C and D sides respectively. This whole process is very organic, as each side starts and ends perfectly with appropriate noisy interludes. Side C in particular has a brilliant hooked groove, so the harrowing dark ambient pummels you into infinity. It’s a very nice detail only for the occultists who want to experience this ritual on wax.

I believe I’m overstaying my welcome in regards to this review, which is something you can not say about this ultra dense album. Every minute of Vitriseptome serves a purpose, so I implore you to give this album all the time it needs to transport you into unheard dimensions. Mitochondrion have returned. Neither too late or too early. They returned precisely when they intended to, and released what is, to me, nothing short of the greatest death metal album of the year. Welcome back, gentlemen.

“YES! I have tasted the enantiodromia!
Where East is West and North is South!
The darkness SHONE and the illumination BLINDED!
Into the abyss my eyes were thrown, but did not once blink!”



This has been yours truly's 150th review.