Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Chasm, The - Procession to the Infraworld (2000)

Fittingly, I get to finish my Horde Clan challenge on a high note.  Mexican death metallers, The Chasm are the brainchild of Daniel Corchado of Cenotaph and at one time Incantation fame.  The version of death metal that the band plays lies rooted in the influence of a variety of bands from Morbid Angel to Nocturnus, from Funebrarum to Deceased.  For every moment of raging death metal there's a horrific, cosmic absurdity  there underpinning some of the proceedings here also.

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.

I don't know where the Infraworld is precisely but I am joining the procession to get there if this is what the soundtrack is going to sound like!