Metalcatto
When you think of Funeral Doom, Costa Rica might not be the first place that comes to mind. The weather is warm, the scenery is beautiful, and people are often associated with an easygoing, happy way of life. Yet even in paradise, shadows can grow long, and Perishing proves it with its debut Malicious Acropolis Unveiled. This is not a casual dip into melancholy—it’s a grim, oppressive, and deliberately heavy work that aims to pull the listener deep into a world where hope is an illusion. The name alone feels like an ominous gateway, and maybe the music behind it delivers on that promise.
What’s striking about Malicious Acropolis Unveiled is how it weaves its sorrow. While clearly rooted in Funeral Doom, Perishing incorporates a significant thread of old-school Death Metal into its sound. This isn’t an Obituary clone by any stretch, but rather something that sits between that primal weight and the deliberate, crushing pace of Skepticism—minus the church organ. The tempos can be glacial, yet the sense of malice never fades. It’s a suffocating, slow-motion descent that feels both deliberate and inevitable, like the shadow of a collapsing monument.
The production and songwriting serve as the core drivers of this atmosphere. Each track on Malicious Acropolis Unveiled feels like it takes place in a dead, abandoned city—a place stripped of life and color, where decay is not only present but eternal. Like much of Death/Doom, repetition plays a major role here, and Perishing uses it to build density and weight rather than monotony. There are no short interludes or easy exits; the songs are extended journeys, though not the sprawling, near-endless kind of Bell Witch. Instead, the pacing demands patience, rewarding the listener with moments that feel both bleakly beautiful and relentlessly heavy.
That said, Doom—especially in its Funeral form—is one of the most challenging styles to keep consistently engaging. The best examples use minimal movement to maximum effect, requiring riffs that can hold a listener’s attention for minutes at a time. For the most part, Perishing achieves this, but by the last two tracks, there’s a creeping sense of sameness as some riffs circle back without significant evolution. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it’s an area where future releases could explore more variation or dynamic shifts. Still, as a debut, it shows a solid understanding of what the genre demands without alienating its core audience.
In the end, Malicious Acropolis Unveiled doesn’t just avoid boring its listeners—it immerses them in a thick, lo-fi fog of despair that feels both filthy and oddly digestible. Yes, it leans into familiar tropes, but it does so with conviction and atmosphere. For those who want their Doom nastier, darker, and steeped in an unshakable sense of ruin, Perishing delivers a debut that feels like a journey to a forgotten place, where loneliness reigns eternal and light never returns.
Label: Transcending Obscurity
Release date: October 17, 2025
Website: https://perishing.bandcamp.com/album/malicious-acropolis-unveiled
Country: Costa Rica
Score: 3.3/5.0
Metal Eclipse Reviews 