The late 90's weren't half as bountiful as the early 90's in terms of old school death metal, and that timeline mainly consisted of bands basically copying their elder masters and repeating the same style, and the funny part is, they weren't really pockets of bands coming out from the abyss. Some followed the path of the Swedish death metallers while some liked to toy with the despicable aesthetics that were originated by the almighty Incantation, a band which sprayed death and blasphemy throughout the 90's. My first impression of Disciples Of Mockery was simple: Incantation. But little did I know that the band actually consisted of former members of Incantation. Now, these are people who helped write and construct the astonishing masterpiece of horror and evil, ''Onward To Golgotha'', and obviously, much of early Incantation's style and haunting maliciousness flows in the veins of ''Prelude To Apocalypse'', so yes, get your hopes high about it.
It truly does fit in perfectly, ''Prelude To Apocalypse'' could have been the continuation of the infamous masterpiece, because it follows the exact path that ''Onward'' did, only with some nuances and slightly differing production quality. The riffs and riff patterns are blatant if you're familiar to Incantation (and who isn't?), spastic tremolo pickings with dual guitars performing eerie harmonies on top of the dense, chubby production quality. I can't say whether riffs stand out or not, though I can say that they vary from time to time. The shadowing tremolo sections may reign supreme as they outshine and outnumber any other style or aspect of the music, but sludgy passages of doom laden death metal is also a popular trend that keeps jumping into the intensified music. ''An Endless Pursuit For A Satisfying Pain'' is such a track where the whole of the riffs are set to move upon a sludgy track them lowers their velocity to turtle speed. And the third most prominent element used in the construction of the riffs is that black metal influence, a fluctuating current of chaos and sheer melancholy, but sections like these are limited compared to their counterparts.
Some may find the album too overwhelming and too boring or may tend to loose focus when aggression is omitted, especially when doom metal sections are preferred more, but for heav'n's sake people, that's the beauty of it! Passion is just as critical as brutality in albums like this, and its much harder a task to perfect it than perfecting aggression and raw energy. You get as brutal as you like, but if one attribute is excluded from the mixture of passion and melancholy, your whole experiment dies at your feet. ''Dogma'' is one track I have to suggest for death-oriented black metal fans, as it embraces the ancient art of black metal with a hint of death metal savagery and some additional heft. The drums is another notable gear while making the clockwork move viscously, they tend to create some excellent fills to link doom laden chords together. Overall, I doubt any fan of hefty doom, death or maybe even doom-driven black will hate this. ''Prelude To Apocalypse'' is yet another lost gem that bestirs doom, black and death metal bombastically.It's blasphemous, melancholic and filled with disdain. ''Onward To Golgotha 2'', I would say.
Highlights
''Literal Upheaval Of The Earth''
''God Of Love''
''Behold The Holy Virgin Whore''
Final Rating
Awesome [8.8/10]
