June 2021 Feature Release – The Horde Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month’s feature release for The Horde has been selected by Vinny. It's 2015's debut full-length "Charnel Passages" from English death metallers Cruciamentum.

https://metal.academy/releases/4597

I quite liked English death metallers Cruciamentum's 2011 debut E.P. "Engulfed in Desolation" back at the time of release but have to admit that I haven't returned to it since so it's hard to recall the finer details. I think it's fair to say that their debut full-length "Charnel Passages" has a made a bigger impact on me though as I've thoroughly enjoyed my listening experience over the last couple of days. There's very little doubt that Cruciamentum are huge fans of early 90's death metal as this release is pretty much an exact replica of that sound with very little attempt at development or expansion being made but, for someone like myself that spent their formative years basking in the glory of that particular scene at the height of its powers, "Charnel Passages" represents a lovely reminder of just how much that period means to me. You won't find any self-indulgent progressive excursions or over-the-top technical wankery here. This album showcases the true death metal atmosphere beautifully & comes complete with corpses, graveyards & unholy blasphemy while drawing its influence from the darker end of the extreme metal spectrum. The deep death growls are extremely similar to Karl Willets from fellow English death metallers Bolt Thrower while the instrumentation draws equal influence from "Covenant"-era Morbid Angel & classic Incantation with the performances maintaining a level of looseness in much the same way as the latter, particularly in the grindy blast beat sections. Also in line with Incantation is Cruciamentum's penchant for doomier sections & those tend to be the most effective parts of the album for me. The tracklisting is extremely consistent with the album highlights being positioned right where they should be (i.e. the first & last tracks) & I simply find it pretty hard to fault "Charnel Passages" despite the fact that it does nothing to push the genre forwards. In my defense though, that quality has never been a must-have for me with extreme metal. It's all about atmosphere & the feeling of empowerment I draw from it & I get that in spades here.

For fans of Incantation, Dead Congregation & Disma.

4/5

Ben & Sonny, you should really dig this release.

I finally got around to my review of this and as I admit this is an album that I have struggles with some days.  To pinch a summary from my review though:

There's a heap of reasons why I would be drawn to Cruciamentum. Hell, anyone who has been paying attention to my reviews/posts can see this is right up my street. Enough nods to Bolt Thrower to keep the British Death Metal fan in me tickled pink, coupled with atmospherics applied by what sound like the hands of Morbid Angel themselves and with the addition of lashings of Dead Congregation, Incantation and Grave Miasma to boot, Charnel Passages has my name stamped all over it. It is important to add that I don't see this band as being guilty of worship of anyone else either (including the bands mentioned above); Charnel Passages is enough of a death metal heavyweight in its own right to be able to stand its own ground in an arena of many other similarly influenced bands. To my ears this is not mere regurgitation of old ideas done by someone else 30 years ago, instead the four piece offer the application of influence to their own sound which remains at the core of their offering.

4/5

I had never heard of Charnel Passages before this months feature and on my intitial listen I wasn't particularly impressed but, to be honest, I wasn't really giving it full attention and my mind was, at least partly, elsewhere. Anyway, a couple of weeks later I have decided to return to it and give it another chance and the attention it deserves. So after a proper spin or three I'm feeling much better disposd toward it's gnarly charms. There is far more going on here than I originally suspected, riff after riff ripping through my skull from ear(phone) to ear. It is most definitely a throwback to my particular favourite era of death metal, ie early to mid-nineties and a looser-feeling style of DM that doesn't feel as constipated as much of the output of later decades. Having become a recent convert to the Incantation juggernaut, I can hear the influence of the Americans' nineties output on these British boys' sole full-length and that can surely never be a bad thing. I am not as steeped in the ethos and history of death metal as some Academy members so I'm not really aware of whether the album is overtly derivative and I can take it on it's own merits, which are pretty damn impressive to my ears. This is most definitely reanimated, semi-decayed corpses, foggy graveyard-style death metal of a type I really enjoy, so I am giving this month's Horde feature a most heartfelt thumbs up.

4/5

Just a question though, can anybody else hear the similarity between the early riff in Piety Carved From Flesh and Cathedral's North Berwick Witch Trials from The Garden of Unearthly Delights?

Some good quality, cavernous Death Metal that dips into slower Death Doom when it needs to and falls a bit flat thanks to its slightly muted production during certain riffs. I think this is one of those dime-a-dozen Death Metal albums that I check out each year just to be thorough, but Charnel Passages has way more potential than most of them. The twisting riffs have some fantastic movement and transitions to them, the vocals are generic but good, and the background choirs and atmospheric bits give it some fantastic depth and don't feel wasted or thrown in on a whim. "Piety Carved From Flesh" is especially great, transitioning from one of the most aggressive and complex pieces of riffing to easily my favorite chug riff of the month after the guitar solo. However, that same chug riff really highlights how flat and muted the production is on this album, I feel like that moment could have hit so much harder if the lead guitar had some more depth and volume to it compared to the double bass and rhythm guitar riffing. 

A good but slightly run-of-the-mill Death Metal record for me, even though I'm with Sonny in that I'm a fan of the overall style of this compared to the more gory types of Death Metal. 

3.5/5