Candles, skulls, magic circles and corpse painted figures are all present on the artwork of this 4 track EP along with a spiky logo naturally. Well it’s obvious that we are in for a dose of blasphemous black metal here! Further digging unveils that the band are Flemish filthsters hailing from Belgium and that they were only founded in July 2013 after rising from the ashes of Eratomania, this is their first release. Considering this it is a welcome surprise pressing play and discovering just how good The Abyss actually is.
The title track is quick to flail in with fast strumming and neck bracing violence sure to get heads banging and spiked gauntlets thrust upwards at its furious tumult. Vocals are rough and coarse and hit the spot whilst the heavily melodic cut and thrust of the number clearly bristles away amidst the brutality. It’s pretty jubilant stuff and full of life rather than the sort of black metal that one would expect to sink them down into an abyss of misery, it has a swagger and big balls about it which continue into ‘The Hour Approaches.’ There are passages that slow down a bit but the mid to fast paced flurry is the most constant speed with the drums clattering away, guitars whiplashing and the constant gargle from the vocals riding roughshod over the top.
The group have already shed a couple of members in their short time one of which is apparently the drummer. His style is a bit on the workmanlike side here I have to admit and there is not a huge amount of variation there but the guitar melodies are the particular strong point as they unravel and get their claws in on numbers such as ‘Torment Feeds The Act Of Satan.’ It looks like the band have several shows under their bullet belts and despite the brevity of this 20 minute EP it leaves me keen to hear more. It looks as though they are working towards this with a split album mooted for some point in the near future too.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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