Lurking in the ghoulish swamps of Louisiana are the members of bestial metal quartet, Abysmal Lord. They dropped their Storms of Unholy Black Mass mini-album through Hell’s Headbangers last year, which I was fortunate to get the opportunity to introduce to Cvlt Nation fans. The guys are back with their debut full-length, Disciples of the Inferno, and they prove on their latest that they have quite the admiration for bands like Proclamation and Blasphemy. More importantly, they up the intensity and tempo on most of their new material.
Abysmal Lord are heavier than ever on Disciples… – while Storms of Unholy Black Mass drudged through murky tempos and slithering darkness, Disciples… brings back the lo-fi production found on their EP, but shows a more mature, more intense Abysmal Lord. More than simply playing the same heavy, chaotic riff on one song, they mix it up a little more. They might blast from end-to end on most songs, but the riffs morph somewhat to keep the corpse fresh. Disciples… shows Abysmal Lord going for the jugular in the bestial metal scene. The songs attack almost the whole way. No doom sections where guitars paddle through murky swamp water. Instead, the band blast and stop, then blast with another riff. The lead comes on wailing into the Armageddon. Storms of Unholy Black Mass was a drudgery. It is pure bludgeon and hack!
First track is an intro replete with chanting and dark ambient music. The ritual leads to a dearth of downpicks on the fuzzy guitar as track three, “Temples of Perversion,” ceases the strange rites, then the blasts accompany explosions; guitars go hyperspeed as the snare gets beaten to submission. The cymbals crashing is just another sign Abysmal Lord has been paying attention. This music is far from forgiving. The vomit vox sound stellar.
This sounds better to me than some scene progenitors, mainly because Abysmal Lord do more than just copy the style. They mix a little war metal, ritual black metal and blackened death metal here. The song arrangements may be primitive, but bands like Black Witchery don’t often feature a production that lets all instrumentation stay audible. Abysmal Lord do inject a slow jam towards the end of track two, Sabbat, that briefly gives the speedfreaks time to recover lost breath.
Track four, “Tormenting the Virgin,” is relentless downpick like crazy and stop, right until the band transition to a punk pace, the snares still getting the ground and pound treatment. They slow down just briefly before laying the track to rest.
Track five, “Golgotha Crucfixion,” is even more intense. The guitars are churning. The vomit vox is larynx destruction. The track ends with an explosion that sends the subwoofer firing.
Track seven, “Black Liturgy,” starts off with ambient darkness before the track goes on another murder spree. The vomit vox really don’t enunciate clearly at all, but it’s perfect every step of the way. The shreds precede the cymbal crashes and it’s away we go with another round of blasts and wailing guitar screeches.
I could go on about track six being textbook bestial metal, but most of the tracks in fact, are. It is cool how Abysmal Lord wasted no space or runtime on the album for chugga-chugga groove or the sort of riffs that water down many thrash albums. Bestial metal is tribute to the beast after all, and Abysmal Lord sound bloodthirsty on Disciples… the way Storms… lacked unbridled intensity. It’s improvement on all levels on Disciples…, highlighted by no particular track instead of them all.
Track ten, album closer “Tyrant’s Wrath,” starts things off with chanting again, before all hell explodes from the speakers. One last time, brothers of the cvlt, Abysmal Lord offer a track to end all pessimism about their largely less-brutal effort, Storms of the Black Mass. What now stands before you behind the devil’s pulpit is no band on any learning curve. Abysmal Lord have arrived!
Disciples of the Inferno makes a statement. Abysmal Lord are skilled, fiery and ready to pull out all the stops to achieve bestial metal perfection. The template was written, and few heard that calling. It is this brutality beyond care that separates Abysmal Lord from the lesser competition. Deified and newly-anointed cvlt, Abysmal Lord are doomy, mid-tempo pretenders no more!
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