ALBUM REVIEW: Abyssal – A Beacon In The Husk

Time for a slightly belated review of the new album from UK Blackened Doom-Death Metal conjurer ABYSSAL, out now via Profound Lore Records.

The first thing I came to notice about the album was the huge cavernous dissonance from the daunting guitar riffs, bleak drum blasts and vitriolic growling. The sheer intimidating nature of the soundscapes the band generate are uncomfortably claustrophobic with a titanic blend of true atmospheric riffing discordance, ferocious drums and vomited vocals. The sparse and expansive Death Metal has a cathartic sense of dreadful foreboding throughout with tension ever-present, monolithic in nature which is conveyed by the beautifully concise yet clear production style. Throughout the haunting album we are given flourishes of blackened assaults and doomy crushing riff work, casting a dark flame of putrid dissonance on the music that grooves and rumbles with thick sludgy songwriting that will shake you to your core. With some melancholic touches to add diversity to the album, there is nothing overlooked, just true savagery that delivers every blow with force and contempt so gorgeously and with a fluidity between tracks that grasps you, never breaking its ambient and mesmerising hold. Writhing with ugliness and progressive ideas that keep Death Metal true to form yet providing a shockingly refreshing experience, this cavernous record will devastate all. Growling with gruesomeness and prowling with putridity, this odious descent into offal and hideous forces will grip you from start to finish in the most awesomely violent manner. A fantastic record, phenomenally written with wonderful production, truly a modern day masterpiece. -9/10