Monday 7 October 2019

Abysmalist - Reflections Of Horror


Labels: Caligari Records/Self-Released
Formats: Tape/Digital
Release Date: 23 Aug 2019

Tracklist:

1. Lascivious Rapture
2. Black Lacquer
3. The Engineer
4. Chain Ripper

Time for some ripping death metal played by dudes who also spend their time playing hardcore, thrash and crossover. In fact, there's a lot of cross-pollination happening right now with the likes of Power Trip, Gatecreeper and Scorched amongst those leading the way. Anyway, Californian duo Abysmalist had only just released their "Reflections Of Horror" demo digitally in August when Caligari Records followed it up with a tape release less than a month later. Let's get into this...

“Reflections Of Horror” kicks off with chugging riffs immediately on opener Lascivious Rapture, where the hardcore influence is there but subtle. There’s also that dirty and grimy undertone created by the bass and vocals, which add seemingly endless amounts of nightmarish low-end torture. The drumming is a mix of blasts and mid-tempo rhythms that certainly help to build on there already dark atmosphere. Both Jeremy Meier and Fred Avila are really skilled musicians. They switch tack on Black Lacquer, which sounds like it was written in the 90s when death metal was in it’s hay-day thanks to the likes of Grave and Incantation etc. The solo within is glorious and accentuates that earlier point even more.

The brooding clean guitar of The Engineer could possibly be a nod to their thrash forefathers, but whatever, it’s a great bit of relief from the extremity. For those that enjoy a bit of melody, this is stellar and it leads into closing song Chain Ripper, which fights back with pace aplenty. Loads of old-school hair-whipping madness and mosh parts are present. The pair that make it happen are seasoned veterans now (it feels like) but that just makes this demo even better. Caligari has knocked it out of the park again with the tape release, while Abysmalist themselves will have you begging for more. Get on this.

Stream and download "Reflections of Horror" below:-



For tape copies head to Caligari Records here - http://caligarirecords.storenvy.com/.

Caligari Records - https://www.facebook.com/CaligariRecords/

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