Corpsessed - Abysmal Thresholds review
| Band: | Corpsessed |
| Album: | Abysmal Thresholds |
| Style: | Death metal |
| Release date: | February 04, 2014 |
| A review by: | ScreamingSteelUS |
01. Invocation
02. Of Desolation
03. Trepanation
04. Sovereign
05. Necrosophic Channeling
06. Ravening Tides
07. Apotheosis
08. Demoniacal Subjugation
09. Transcend Beyond Human
10. The Threshold
Every once in a while, you come across a band for whom the label "death metal" is an understatement. Corpsessed's debut album is more like "slavering jaws of the supreme ravenous death beast metal."
After an intro that sounds like the armies of Sauron being called to war, these Finnish newcomers break into a soul-slaughtering, 45-minute neck-breaker liable to leave your flesh in tatters. Abysmal Thresholds contains a lot of throwbacks to death metal's heyday, with pronounced elements of Deicide, Morbid Angel, and other deathly patriarchs shining through. Songs such as "Trepanation" and "Ravening Tides" exhibit some of that good, old-fashioned Legion-y/Altars Of Madness-y riffing.
While the riffs and song structures utilize the organic earthiness of the old American vanguard, the atmosphere is 100% distinctly Swedish. Abysmal Thresholds was wrought in a cold well of thick, icy despair. It has a nearly industrial edge - utterly chilling and mechanical, with a healthy dose of fear. I thought I was listening to Anaal Nathrakh at first, because Corpsessed sure know how to take a monstrous wall of death metal and make it even more frightening.
Abysmal Thresholds's main flaw lies in the production. The vocals are often buried in the mix, which is a shame on the one hand, as they have done nothing to deserve this treatment. On the other hand, this suppression of the human element exalts the pure abyss of devilry and machinery that consumes the album. Perhaps this aspect of the production could be seen in either a positive or a negative light, but the instruments themselves have very little room to breathe. The guitars, bass, and drums run together somewhat, in some places leaving a sludgy cavalcade of noise where there should be clarity to let the songs stand out.
This is the kind of stuff that you can't listen to alone because it would unleash untold terrors upon your soul, but you can't bring it upon yourself to listen with other people around because they would all be eaten alive by Satan. If tracks like "Necrosophic Channeling" and "Apotheosis" don't move you to demonic convulsions, I don't know what will.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 7 |
 | Written on 06.03.2014 by I'm the reviewer, and that means my opinion is correct. |
Rating:
8.5
8.5
|
Rating: 8.5 |
Deep in the damp and dark cavernous depths of the Earth, a primal growl turns mountains to dust. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 11
Visited by: 200 users
| LascaillesShroud Posts: 164  |
At first I had issues with the albums production, but I've had it roughly since it debuted and it has surprisingly really grown on me. The vocals no longer seem buried, and the whole of the album feels like a singular sonic hurricane of cavernous death and terror. I thoroughly enjoyed the album, I scored it an 88% so it's not too far off from this review  Good job as well.
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| Warman Erotic Stains Posts: 7695  |
Written by [user id=4365] on 06.03.2014 at 22:18 Agreed! That cover is so awesome it made me think "whoa, gotta give that shit a listen". I didn't even care about the review.
---- 
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| -DC-002- Mastercommander Posts: 1703  |
Pretty much were I'd put the album, you do good ScreamingSteel. I actually thought the production is spot on considering the genre so I wouldn't take away from it there. Where the vocals seem distant actually pulls you in just a little deeper, and on some parts the drums menace like nails being driven into a coffin with you on the inside  Flaws would come from the song structures being a little rigid. Another problem is I don't like when the closing songs on albums are weak, and The Threshold leaves me a little dissatisfied. Again, good review. Yo estoy todavía escuchando a lo.
---- Coldgrits
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| ScreamingSteelUS Editor-in-Chief Admin Posts: 5923  |
Written by -DC-002- on 07.03.2014 at 04:29 Thanks. I'm fairly torn on the production. As I said, I think in terms of vocals it can definitely be a good thing, and this "cavern" image mentioned above fits like a glove. For the style, it's perfect, and I really like the style. For the most part, I don't have a problem with it, there are just some places where it seems too muddled for me and where I'd rather hear the song than the sound.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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| -DC-002- Mastercommander Posts: 1703 |
Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 07.03.2014 at 05:05 Ahh I see, that grim aesthetic is pretty fixed the whole way through ya. It'll be interesting hopefully how they shift around the production during their next releases.
---- Coldgrits
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| mz Posts: 4824  |
I really love the production of this album. It is exactly the type of production needed for this sort of death metal.
---- Giving my ears a rest from music.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by mz on 08.03.2014 at 19:43 100% spot on.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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