Despite being around since 2016, Beneath the Blazing Abyss is the Finnish band’s debut and boy, is it an excellent, pummeling example of death/doom metal that is a very, very impressive first effort.

If you enjoy mid-tempo trundling death with sprinkles of doom like Temple of Void, Grave, Malignant Altar, Vore, Hooded Menace, Frozen Soul and such, then you need to check this out as it delivers the same sort of hefty, groove-laden hammering death metal with slower tempos and doomy lumbers. And does it with confidence, skill, and a killer production. Notably the drums of youngster Juuso Hämäläinen (Azatoth, Disguised Malignance), which will absolutely cave your skull in.

Those drums (and massive, crunchy guitars) are on display early on, as about 20 seconds into the encapsulating opening track “Primordial Possession”, the double bass rumble kicks things off followed by some massive grooves, dense lurches, deep roars, a little blasting, and then the next 5 tracks follow suit with a commanding, imposing presence.

While the focus is mainly on hefty, rumbling riffs, and doomy segues there are some faster moments or blast beats scattered throughout almost all the songs (i.e. the album’s shortest cut “Hand of Sin”), but it’s the longer, girthier tracks that are the standouts.

The likes of “Infernal Atonement” with its opening Bolt Thrower-ish trundle and “Incinerated Evil” hit hard with huge, loping riffs. And in particular the album’s two nine-minute standouts “At the Dawn of Damnation” and “Bound to the Funeral Pyres” which even with some sparse blasts, at times, border on full-on doom numbers, and even feature some light synths, choirs, and acoustics here and there.

“Swallowed by Fires Beneath” ends the album with a bit of a wasted 4-minute ambient number. In my humble opinion, such a kick-ass monolithic album needed a more kick-ass monolithic, closing climax.

[Visit the band's website]

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