Chasm, The - Procreation of the Inner Temple (1995)^{Release ID: 2500}

The one that started it all, right? Well, yes and no. There was no instant success with this one, but they showed some real promise here, since a couple of the songs actually kick major ass. At a time when genres didn't have to be combined, the influence of early doom metal is pretty apparent here. And while that influence would be discarded when the new stuff came out (as I read about), this is still worth listening to for the band's history alone.

The key thing about this album is that it seems to follow up where the demo left off: mingling death metal with doom metal, and switching between the two. The demo wasn't very consistent with that, but this decent debut combines the two seamlessly, especially concerning Honoris Lux Infinitus, which is one of the better tracks. The Day of Liberation adds a layer of prog and carries some of the best riffs on the album. Easily my favorite song on it. The album even revives the demo track The Cosmos Within, which was a decent song on its own in the demo, but with slightly improved production, the song's better.

The album isn't without its flaws. Early on, "Confessions and a Strange Anxiety" started to bore me. The riffs just weren't good enough to keep its hold on me. So sometimes the riffs aren't good enough. That, and the album isn't super-heavy by any means. The dark atmosphere can possibly make up for that, though, not in terms of quality but in being playable. And when songs get more progressive, they either pretty hit or miss, like the difference between The Day of Liberation and the atmospheric Lonely Walker, which are side-by-side.

Problems aside, I had fun with this one and I know if it had come out just now, or if it was 1994 and this had just came out, I'd find myself eager for the next album. It's said that this is their worst album, but that's only a good thing. That means the whole discography is worth listening to, especially if we've got such a high-quality song on the debut as The Day of Liberation.