August 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 nominated by myself. It's 2000's highly regarded "Procession To The Infraworld" album from Mexican death metallers The Chasm. A recent playlist submission from Ben reminded me that I'm well overdue to give this album a revisit & I'm excited to see how my feelings on it have developed since my last experience.

https://metal.academy/releases/2503

I had already written a review for this and my views still stand to this day.  

The sonic chaos that the band invokes throughout Procession to the Infraworld is blinding. The leads soar and swarm at the same time, enveloping the listener and asphyxiating any remnant of silence in their path. The riffs are equally smothering and consuming, crawling over your flesh like plague infested arachnids. Check out At the Edge of the Nebula Mortis for a great example of this.

Corchado's vocal style is different to the one he deployed with Incantation on Diabolical Conquest, having an almost Abbath like feel to them at times. Considering that this album was released a mere two years after he worked with the legends of death metal, the versatility that he is able to display is great and the performance here feels very measured and calculated to maximise the vocal's emphasis in the bigger picture of the overall music.

Between Corchado and Viterbo the guitar work here is excellent displaying variety and surety in equal measure, never flashy or showy but always entertaining in weaving the album's own particular tapestry of cosmic chaos. Antonio León on drums does a superb job also in making the percussive elements of the record sound robust and vigorous throughout, using subtlety where required and power when called upon also. The solo for Return of the Banished is a perfect example of when the guitar is allowed to breathe by the other instruments.

The instrumental opener "Spectral Sons of the Mictian" has enough melodic tendencies to suck me in to this album before "The Scars of My Journey" begins and brings in the far more common death metal palette, song structures and atmosphere. I must admit that the incorporation of these sounds alongside the tones of the melodic opener are well put together and make for an album that is not as hellacious as Vinny describes. The heavier portions are very balanced and sound guttural and as brutal as they should be, but it never seems like they are becoming a cacophonous mess. The occasional flares of melodic hooks from the guitars are complimentary.

The percussion is very heavy footed and the vocals while not bad, they are very rough and scrappy. Perhaps not a bad thing for a death metal album, but even by comparison to Diabolical Conquest, the guttural vocals felt forced. But I still do enjoy this record. Quite a forceful little project, but lots of groove and melody make it more memorable than most death metal bands of the time.

7/10

I first became aware of Mexican outfit The Chasm through a South American tape trader way back in the mid 1990’s & didn’t mind their first couple of doom-laden death metal albums, particularly their 1996 sophomore effort “From The Lost Years…”. But it would be more than a decade before I’d return to the band & discover that they’d become somewhat of a cult artist in the underground extreme metal scene while I’d been busy indulging myself in the electronic music scene. 2000’s “Procession To The Infraworld” (arguably The Chasm’s most highly regarded work) would be the first of The Chasm’s classic period releases that I'd investigate & it didn’t make as big an impact on me as I’d expected upon first listen. Thankfully, I gave it some time & was warmly rewarded for my patience.

“Procession Into The Infraworld” isn’t the most clinical death metal record you’ll find. Instead, it goes for a much looser & more chaotic approach to both its production & execution. The musicianship isn’t amazing to be honest. Antonio León’s drumming is certainly pretty ambitious however the incredibly clicky kick drum sound is particularly unforgiving & showcases Antonio’s technical failings fairly obviously while the lead guitar work is performed at a pretty basic level & is one of the weaknesses of the album. The complexity of the song-structures is quite impressive though with The Chasm rarely sticking to the one riff for more than a few bars which gives the album an urgency that it might not have possessed otherwise. Daniel Corchado’s vocal performance offers great variety & a significant amount of menace which gives some of the less imposing tracks a little more underground credibility too. Those of you who are familiar with Incantation's "Diabolical Conquest" album might be pleasantly surprised at the alternative directions he takes here in comparison to the more consistently deep & guttural contribution he made to that particular late 90's classic.

Musically, “Procession Into The Infraworld” isn’t the most brutal death metal release you’ll find & it doesn’t have the darkest atmosphere either but neither of those comments should be taken as negatives. The Chasm’s more death metal inclined riffage sports a uniquely Mexican edge that’s got plenty of room for melody without ever crossing over into melodeath territory. It reminds me a lot of Corchado’s early 90’s band Cenotaph’s 1994 sophomore album “Riding Our Black Oceans” & also 2009’s “Sub Altris Caelis” record from fellow Mexicans Infinitum Obscure which was more than likely influenced by it. But if you allow yourself to ignore all of the genre-tagging you see online, close your eyes & focus on what’s really going on, you’ll notice something really interesting because at least half of the guitar work on this release sits more comfortably under the black metal banner than it does under a death metal one & I feel that this major element is deserving of the "blackened death metal" label. There are loads of dissonant open-string arpeggios going on that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Satyricon or Burzum record & there’s a thrashy edge to some of it that’s not all that dissimilar to Immortal’s “At The Heart Of Winter” album too. But the major influence I pick up from “Procession To The Infraworld” is that of Swedish melodic black metal gods Dissection with the same sort of complex melodic movement being employed consistently across the tracklisting. It’s this ever-changing combination of accessible black metal melody & more meaty death metal chug that give this record its widespread underground appeal in my opinion.

On paper, “Procession To The Infraworld” isn’t exactly in line with my usual death metal preferences however it’s hard not to admire the integrity in its concept as it really is an unabashed statement on the strength of the underground extreme metal scene & it’s this characteristic that allows me to overlook its flaws. There are some really strong tracks included here but it’s really only closer “Storm Of Revelations” that sees me reaching tier one levels of admiration. The rest of the album is very consistent but the lack of precision & polish in the performances I mentioned earlier combines with a greater concentration on melody than I’m usually comfortable with to see me reeling my adoration in a bit. There’s no doubt that this is a strong record. It’s just not the classic that some people would have you believe it is.

For fans of Dissection, Cenotaph & Infinitum Obscure.

4/5