I am always grateful of receiving a release to review that purely sticks to one genre, no superfluous subgenres and whilst I adore all types of death metal Dead Chasm play it straight down the line, their deathly dealings hit hard, hit square and beat the living daylights out of you. The Italian bands self-titled debut made quite a mark on me in early 2022 where I said the band was situated within the Swedeath like style, this debut full length offers a far denser, more grotesque style that slithers like a mutant beast.

‘Apparitions’ is the opener and the short fade in channels its pervading terror down an eerie avenue where foreboding riffs link with the bludgeoning onslaught that ensues shortly after. At times thunderously dense to the point where the high end seems almost non-existent makes the release that bit more horrifying and that bit more hideous as ‘In Abhorrent Obscurity’ proves. The pacing is often relentless but inextricably linked to the slow crawling passages that feel like you are suffocating under its gravity defying opacity.

‘Perpetual Realm Of Light’ is equally repugnant but within that styling their musicality is plain to hear, plenty of catchy hooks are embedded alongside the insanely cavernous vocal tone that plunges the songs into inhuman territories. ‘Ethereal Fragments’ is the longest tune here and is afforded a more expansive approach as the intermittent blast sections couple to the gruesome doom-death like sections with total ease and consummate cohesion. That cohesion runs through the album, each phase within the songs flows smoothly with brutalising finesse as I really did like those horror stricken doom-death phases over and above the blasted style.

Without any ceremony ‘Impious Embrace’ blasts in and noticeably there are few if any silent gaps on the album, as each tune ends the next starts up immediately creating huge momentum and that sense of being subjected to an aural ordeal that is punishing yet rewarding. I also enjoyed how ‘Sulphuric Asphyxiation’ starts, its isolated guitar piece crafts that doom infested aura, almost haunting to a degree before the blasted annihilation follows.

Closing the release is ‘Innumerable Dimensions’ where a slow double bass rumbles along increasing the dread as that doom-death ethos ushers in an emotionless obliteration with sporadic but calculated blast beats. At just over 30 minutes the album leaves you breathless and gasping for air, like clawing your way to the surface after being buried alive. Fans of old school death metal will certainly favour this, but also those into the slower side of death metal too as every song twists and turns in contorted terror to awesome effect.

(8.5/10 Martin Harris)

https://www.facebook.com/deadchasm

https://fda-records.bandcamp.com/album/sublimis-ignotum-omni